


The Crazy Cat Vicar

by MrsLittletall



Category: Bloodborne (Video Game)
Genre: But mostly fluff, Cats, F/M, Laurence curses a lot, a bit of angst, and upsetting everyone, cat shenanigans, inspired by my own cats, laurence keeps bringing cats into the church, so many cats, the canon bloodborne timeline still happens in the background, the original female character is Laurence secretary, there will be some more characters with future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2020-12-09 05:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 36,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20989841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsLittletall/pseuds/MrsLittletall
Summary: Laurence, Vicar of the Healing Church, has a rather soft spot for cats. In fact, he loves them so much, that he keeps bringing them in.Will the people around him be willing to keep up with him and his cats shenanigans?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, it was one of my first headcanons for Laurence that he loved cats. And then I was like: “Hey, he has like ten cats or something who can freely roam the church.
> 
> Before I knew it, I already thought up names, looks and personalities for the cats. And now I want to write some of the stories of them down. Enjoy!)

It was a miserable tiny little thing. 

Fur as black as the night with eyes as yellow as a shining full moon, the kitten sat next to the gravestone of Laurence' parent's grave. Its fur was awfully ruffled, it looked dirty, probably covered in fleas and far too thin, but mostly the kitten was just... cute. 

“Hey, little one, what are you doing here?”, Laurence kneeled down, blinking slowly to communicate to the kitten that he meant no harm, but the motion was enough for the tiny thing to hiss at him and get into hiding. 

Not far though, he still could see its tail sticking out from behind the graveyard. 

“I wonder if your mom isn't around anymore too?”, Laurence murmured to himself, getting up. He should get back to the church. Though as he left, he turned around to see the two yellow eyes peaking out behind the grave stone, looking at him. 

On his way back to Cathedral Ward, Laurence noticed a store that would sell several fish products and before he knew it, his feet already had brought him inside it. The vendor inside gave him a professional smile and said: “Good afternoon, sir, how can I help...” before realization stroke and she bowed down, saying “Bless us with blood.” 

“Um, you can rise.”, Laurence said. He would never got used to the citizens treating him like some holy figure. The woman did as told. 

“What invited your presence in our humble little store, your grace?”, she asked.

“I need some... dried fish treats. Can I get a few salmon ones?”, Laurence asked. 

“Of course.”, the vendor said but Laurence didn't miss the surprise in her eyes. She probably thought he was going to request the most expensive fish for some church banquet or something there instead of some snack for animals. Soon he had a bag with treats in his hand and the vendor got some coins, which Laurence almost had to force on her, because she refused to take money of their “saviour.” 

Instead of going back to the church, Laurence went straight back to the graveyard. Unfortunately, the kitten was gone from his parent's grave. 

“Hey kitty, are you still around?”, Laurence called into the silence of the graveyard. “I have some goodies for you, little one.” He walked through the graveyard, looking behind every gravestone he encountered until the ruffled little thing came into view. As it spotted Laurence, its fur and tail puffed up in an attempt to make it look bigger, but it only made it more adorable. Laurence felt like he had literal hearts in his eyes just watching it. 

“Hey, little one, don't be mean, I have something for you.”, Laurence said in the most soothing voice, dropping a fish treat on the ground and squatting down a few feet away from the kitten to simply watch. 

Still puffed up, the kitten slowly came closer to sniff the treat... and then snatched it to run behind a gravestone with it, munching on it, still distrusting. 

“You remind me a lot of Micolash.”, Laurence murmured. “He looks as ruffled as you when he just came out of bed.” 

Once the first treat was ingested, the kitten came out from its hiding place. Upon seeing him, it hissed and puffed up again, but didn't back away as Laurence pulled another treat from the bag, tossing it on the ground. 

Upon closer look it was apparent that this kitten was a stray without a colony or family. It just was too thin, too unkempt. It was barely old enough to be on its own and here it was, trying to survive. The sight tug on Laurence' heart strings as he kept tossing the treats on the ground, each one of them quickly being carried away and eaten until the kitten had enough of this procedure and just kept waiting on the spot for more treats. 

Laurence always had wanted to keep a cat as a pet, but his parents had never allowed it and in Byrgenwerth it had impossible to keep any pets anyway. And then he had founded the Healing Church and had been far too busy to ever think about getting a pet, but here he was, feeding a stray kitten that would probably die in the next few days when nothing would happen. 

In him a decision formed and as Laurence tossed the last treat on the ground, the moment the kitten had picked it up, his hands closed around its chest and he lifted it up, hiding it in the inner pockets of his coat, where the thing was screaming and squirming with distaste. 

“Quiet, little one...”, Laurence said, thinking that maybe he should have kept a few more treats to keep it still instead of having to tightly button up his coat around him, keeping it close to his body so that the kitten wouldn't escape. He could feel how warm it was. Without saying another word, Laurence made his way back to the church. 

Thankfully once he had made it back, the kitten had gotten hoarse from screaming, but was still very much squirming. He needed to get to his office soon to give the poor thing some space. Before he could made it there though, he got held up by Florence, his secretary. 

“Vicar, you wanted to be back sooner. Where have you been?”, she said. “I had to reschedule some appointments because of your absence.” She stopped as she noticed the squirming under Laurence' coat. 

“Do you have mice in there?”, she asked, squinting. 

“Um...”, Laurence started. How should he explain to his secretary, that he, the Vicar of the Healing Church, had been held up by a stray kitten which he couldn't resist to take with him? But now that she already was suspicious, there was no way he could find a suitable lie in time. 

“Florence, come into my office with me.”, he said, still holding the coat close. 

“You don't really have mice hidden in your coat, don't you?”, Florence said with a chuckle. “I know you do all kind of research for the holy blood, but that doesn't mean you have to go and get the test subjects yourself.” 

“Rats would be better for it anyway.”, Laurence murmured. “It's not mice...” And as they entered his office and closed the door behind them, Laurence opened his coat to finally free the squirming kitten of its “prison”, which jumped out of his coat and sat on the ground making large eyes, ears drooped, probably screaming in protest when it still would have a voice. 

“That's a kitten...”, Florence said, eyes wide. Her gaze went from the kitten to Laurence and realization dawned in her face when she saw how Laurence looked at the tiny cat. 

“Isn't it just adorable?!”, he said. “Doesn't it look like Micolash with the ruffled black fur and the big eyes? And it wouldn't shut up on the way here, it only stopped screaming because it got hoarse and I just couldn't let it out alone there...” 

“Vicar Laurence, you don't have to convince me when you want to keep it, I am your secretary.”, Florence said. “So, shall I get everything a cat needs? This one probably needs a bath first, look how dirty it is.” 

“Oh, I am taking care of that, you take care of everything else.”, Laurence said, feeling a tiny but dumb about practically asking Florence permission to keep it. 

“Of course.”, Florence said and as she left he heard her already murmur what they would need. Laurence kneeled down to pick the ruffled thing from the floor. He had expected more resistance, but the kitten seemed to be exhausted enough from screaming and squirming earlier so much that it barely moved, instead kind of pressed into his hands. 

Both hands around the kitten, keeping it secure and warm, Laurence made his way to the nearest bathroom and walked to the sink, where he turned the handle to let water fill it once he had closed the drain. The kitten hadn't done anything as the sound of water splashing kept echoing through the room, but once it stopped and Laurence lowered it to put into the sink, it hissed and squirmed with all its remaining strength. 

“Come on, little one, you need to get cleaned from all this dirt. And when a few fleas die in the process that would be good too.”, Laurence said, but the kitten stretched out all its four limbs to avoid being dipped in the water, its tail already looked like a brush. 

Laurence knew that most cats didn't like water, but he also knew that the kitten had no other choice. He didn't want to hurt the tiny thing, but he probably had to be a bit more strict about it. 

“I will not dunk your head underwater...”, he murmured, as he tried to lower the kitten again, its claws clanking against the porcelain of the sink. “This won't hurt, so stop struggling...” 

Before he knew it, the kitten already had struggled its way out of Laurence grip and was making a beeline for one of the stalls, probably intending to hiding in there. 

“Oh, come on, there is no place to hide here!”, Laurence yelled and went after the kitten, finding it huddled behind the toilet in this stall, still hissing. “Come on, let's get you cleaned up.”, he said in the softest voice he could imagine, holding his hand out but it only prompted the kitten to lash out at him, a sharp pain flashed through his hand and a few drops of blood soon leaked out. This moment of distraction had been enough for the kitten to search a new hiding place. “Oh, now this is personal!”, he hissed as he went on the hunt for the kitten.

A good twenty minutes later Laurence had a few new scratches on his hands and arms and the kitten finally was given a proper bath, now truly too exhausted to do anything about it anymore. Laurence asked himself if the kitten would even get properly clean, because inevitable some of the blood from his wounds had seeped into the water, tinting it a shade of red. 

Once the kitten felt properly cleaned up, Laurence wrapped it into a towel. “...Haven't even checked if you are a boy or a girl yet...”, he muttered, looking at the kitten. Of course it couldn't be determined from looks alone. Once he had dried the kitten up and it was hanging limp in his arm, he lifted the tail to check. 

“...I think I am going to call you Mick.”, Laurence said as he brought him back to his office with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day with Mick continues. Florence and Laurence set everything up what a cat needs. Laurence has to learn that a kitten can be rather demanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who is ready for more pure kitten fluff? Also, this story is set during Laurence' whole time as the Vicar. In this early chapters, he just established the church and is 23 years old, thus Florence' comment about his age.

Laurence had put Mick down on the floor of his office and then hooked himself up to the old blood to heal the rather burning scratches. He had sat down at his desk, waiting for the old blood to pour into his system and observed Mick, who did his best to undo the “damage” of the bath. 

It felt ridiculous that the kitten tried to dry himself with a rather wet tongue, but it worked against all odds and soon the fur of Mick puffed up, making him looking even more like he had the worst case of bed hair than when Laurence had found him at the graveyard. Mick took in several seemingly impossible poses, making Laurence question if there even were bones in cats, although he had seen enough pictures in books of their skeleton. Though, once Mick took a pose that was one leg lifted straight up in the air and his head trying to reach his stomach, he managed to fall over and oh, did this look adorable. Laurence couldn't help but chuckle at this sight. 

Just when Mick had managed to stand up again, shaking his head, the handle of the door turned and opened. Mick hissed and ran over to the couch, squeezing himself under it. Laurence was impressed that the kitten managed to fit under there. Once again he asked himself if cats maybe didn't possess bones after all. 

The door opened completely and Florence tumbled in, arms full of items. “Excuse me, Vicar, but I simply wasn't able to knock like this.”, she said. 

“Oh, it's fine.”, Laurence said. “I am more impressed that you were able to carry all this stuff on your own.” 

“I have three kids, Vicar, you are getting used to carry a copious amount of stuff when you have a large family.”, Florence said, shuffling over to the couch to set the items down. “Phew, this was heavy.”, she said, turning around, narrowing her eyes: “Are you hooked up on the old blood again, your grace?” 

“...Mick was rather adamant about not taking a bath.”, Laurence said, raising his arm to show the scratches which already had started to heal.

“Oh, so you have given it a name.”, Florence stated. “Where is the little guy btw?” 

“Below the couch.”, Laurence answered, observing the healing process of his wounds. He could unhook himself from the ministration once the wounds were completely closed. 

“Oh, there you are, dear.”, he heard Florence say and then a hiss. “Oh dear, I don't want to hurt you, just checking if you are fine.” 

“Leave him be, he needs to adjust to the new situation.”, Laurence said, reciting the things he remembered from all the cat books he had read. Once his wounds had closed up completely, he took a handkerchief and pulled the needle, pressing the handkerchief on the punctuation wound. With the old blood still in his veins it would heal quickly, but he wanted to avoid bruising. 

“What have you brought for Mick?”, Laurence asked once he was sure that he could stand up. 

“Bowls for food and water, a litter box, a scratching post, a cat bed, some toys and a bit of cat food.”, Florence said, pointing at each item when she spoke. “Do you want to keep the kitten here, in your office? Or would your room be the better choice? Or should we make a complete separate room for it?”, she queried. 

“I was planning to keep him here so that he could get used to the new situation first.”, Laurence said. 

“I guess you will sleep in here then instead of your room, I better fetch you some new blankets soon.”, Florence paused for a brief moment, staring at the old blankets draped over the couch. “Although, you practically already live in here.”

Laurence could feel how his cheeks flashed a certain kind of red: “I... I just have so much to do. Instructing people on the blood ministrations... Making contact with the aristocrats for donations... Having to explain all of this to Cainhurst...” His face darkened at the mention of the last place. 

“I know, that is a big deal for someone your age.”, Florence hummed. 

“What is that about to mean?”, Laurence narrowed his eyes. 

“Oh, I just tried to say that normally people of your age aren't willing to take in such an important position.”, she chirped. “Now, shall we make sure that Mick feels safe, secure and cared for here?”

That calmed Laurence down and the next hour or so was spend making sure that everything found a proper place. While Laurence had never been able to have a pet cat on his own, he was full about book knowledge about them and was particularly demanding about the placement of the cat furniture. 

“The litter box should be put into the most quiet corner, so he can use it in peace... don't put it behind the door, that is the same as someone coming in when you are using the bathroom.”, he said as he scanned the room for a proper position and found one in a corner between the wall and a bookshelf. 

“I would like for him to be able to climb up high, cats really like being up high, put the scratching post near the shelf, but make sure that he can't kick down books.”, he commented as Florence was running back and forth trying to find the perfect spot so that the kitten wouldn't be able to knock down any books. 

“I don't really know if he accepts a cat bed, I heard most cats just prefer simple boxes, why don't we rummage around in the storages for some boxes?”, he mused as he weighed the cat bed in his hands, asking himself if it had been a waste of money. 

Halfway through their work Mick dared to come out from under the couch, sneaking behind Laurence on silent toes, puffing himself up as he turned and spotted him. “Look who came out of hiding.”, he said, kneeled down and gave the kitten a soft pet. He could sense Florence smiling at the both of them. 

They finished their work under the watchful eyes of Mick who took a few seconds to sniff at every new item that got put down or rearranged. After the both of them were done, Laurence flopped on the couch. “I am not used to this physical work anymore...”, he groaned. 

“Shall I get you something to drink?”, Florence asked and when Laurence shook his head, her eyes fell onto the bowls. “I guess we should fill them up. I am going to get some water for him.” 

She bend down to pick up the bowl. When she stood up again, she said: “I brought some cans of cat food, so that you can feed him.” 

“I doubt that he is hungry, I have fed him a whole bag of dried fish treats before I brought him here.”, Laurence answered, eyes on Mick. The kitten was still investigating the room, sniffing at his bookshelf. 

“That explains why you were so late. All your appointments have been rescheduled for tomorrow, so I would prefer it if you wouldn't pick up any more cats until then.”, Florence said with a joking tone in her voice before she left the room. 

Although Laurence didn't plan on feeding Mick right away, he got curious about the canned food and walked to his desk, where it had been placed. “Food made out of chicken...”, he read aloud. “Hm, I wonder why they don't make it out of mice? After all, that is what cats are mostly dieting on...”, he mused to himself. Mick was in the process of climbing into his bookshelf, finding a particular cozy spot on top of his books and laid down. 

“Maybe you will be a good hunter one day.”, he said. “Such big buildings as churches always attract mice.” 

As Laurence still was in the process of remembering how much food a kitten should get daily and already was planning on searching out the cat books later, Florence opened up the door and came in with a fresh bowl of water. 

“Now the little one won't get thirsty.”, she said and put it down. 

“Hmmm... though I read that a lot of cats have trouble getting motivated to drink...”, Laurence commented. 

“That is easy to take care off, just rub the water in his fur and he will drink it when he cleans himself.”, Florence said. Laurence had to admit that this indeed would work. After all, he had seen Mick lick himself dry after the unwanted bath. “Where is the dear?”, Florence wanted to know and Laurence pointed at the book shelf. Florence went over to smile and coo at the kitten, which only earned her a hiss. 

“I think you are scaring him, Florence.”, Laurence chuckled. Florence was the complete opposite of scary with her warm smile and motherly demeanour. Maybe the kitten was scared because of her rather large frame. 

“This situation is still new for him.”, Florence said. “By the way, you have decided quickly on a name. May I ask why you choose this particular one?” 

“It was easy. He reminded me of Micolash.”, Laurence said without hesitating a single second. After a brief moment he added: “You know, my friend from By... the school.” That was close, Laurence almost had tainted his tongue with the name of this place. 

“The young man with the messy black hair and the eye bags? Yes, indeed, they have a striking similarity.”, Florence said, eyes still on Mick. After a few more minutes of silence and Mick making no moves to come closer, she stood up. “Is there anything more you need or can I return to my usual duties now?” 

“Hm, you could get me some cat books from the library, but that has time until later. I need to continue with my work too.”, he gestured at all the letters on his desk, stood up from the couch and walked over to the table. 

“But other than this, you are dismissed, thank you, Flo...” Laurence got interrupted as he felt a sudden force tug on his holy shawl. “What the...?” 

As he turned his head around he saw that Mick hung from it, clawing deeply into the shawl, apparently having come out of his hiding place. “Hey, that isn't to play with!”, he complained, grabbing his shawl and fruitlessly trying to free it from Mick's grip. All it did was making Mick even more relentlessly clawing at his shawl. “Stop, you are ripping it all up!”, Laurence yelled. 

“Oh dear.”, Florence chuckled and walked over to the couch while Laurence still tried to save his shawl. When she came back, she had a toy in hand, a stick with added feathers. “Mick, look what I have.”, she cooed. Once the kitten saw the toy, it got big eyes, released itself from the shawl (and ripped a good part out of it much to Laurence' disdain) to chase after the feathers. 

“One last request then... fix my shawl please.”, Laurence said as he pulled it from around his neck to hand to Florence. His shawl was different from the usual church set shawls which he were based on this particular one. It had been the last gift his late mother had given him and he had cherished it for ten years now. 

“Of course.”, Florence said and came over, switching the shawl in Laurence' hands with the feather toy. “I'll bring it later to you with the books you requested. For now, I will take my leave. Ask for me if you need my assistance. And I suggest you play with Mick, so that he doesn't rip apart another one of your possessions.” 

“Yes, thank you, Florence.”, Laurence said, sitting down at his desk and swaying the toy in front of Mick. The kitten did some impressive jumps trying to chase it and once he had securely managed to claw and bite into it, Laurence released the toy, watching as Mick brought his “prey” into safety. 

“Well then, back to work.”, Laurence said and picked up a fountain pen. 

The afternoon was spent between writing letters establishing relationships between the Healing Church and the aristocrats of the town and entertaining Mick whenever he brought the feather toy and laid it down as Laurence' feet. 

At first, Laurence simply had ignored him, too caught up in his work to notice the kitten but when the mews had gotten more and more demanding, he had watched down with furrowed brows, ready to throw out whatever made this annoying noises, when he saw Mick sitting there, looking at him with wide eyes. At this sight, Laurence' anger got blown away in an instant and so when the evening came he hadn't managed to finish all the letters. 

In fact, Laurence only managed to notice it was evening by the own growl of his stomach. “Time to eat something...”, he muttered to himself as his gaze fell on the food bowl. “Oh, I guess you must be hungry again too...” 

He stared at the canned food on his desk and proceeded to open one of the cans. He still couldn't remember how much he should give Mick, but had the feeling that one spoon would be the right amount of food. That is when he realized, that he didn't had a spoon in his office. He doubted that Florence had forgotten to bring one, she probably hadn't been able to carry one of top of all the stuff she had brought. 

Oh well, he wanted to get something to eat anyway, he could request a spoon from the kitchen while he was at it. 

Ten minutes later Laurence returned with a spoon and a ham sandwich to his office. He preferred to eat food he could hold in his right hand so he would be able to continue writing with his left. He put the plate with the sandwich down and used the spoon to fill the bowl for Mick. As soon as he was finished, he turned around to see...

“Mick no, that is my sandwich!” Laurence rushed over to pick Mick up, who mewed in protest. Laurence carried Mick to the bowl and sat him down in front of it. “Here, that is your food.”, he said and went back to his desk, picking up his fountain pen with the left and the sandwich with the right to continue working. 

Laurence had peace for about five minutes and then the head of a scrubby black kitten showed itself from the other site of the desk and it slowly climbed on it. Laurence didn't pay him much attention, but when he noticed that his head very much followed the the movements of the sandwich and the moment a tiny little paw reached out when he put it back on the plate...

“Mick, you just had your meal not even ten minutes ago!”, Laurence scolded, spending the rest of his meal having to make sure that Mick didn't steal the ham from his sandwich and barely getting any work done. As soon as he had finished eating, he laid his pen down, maybe he should finish this tomorrow. He could instruct Florence to prepare the finished letters already. 

Thinking about Florence, he heard a knock and her voice asking for permission to enter. As Laurence approved, she came in, smiling as she saw Mick sitting on the desk. “In good company, I see, Vicar.”, she said and placed a selection of books on his desk. Then she produced his fixed shawl out of her pockets. “As good as new.”, she smiled. 

“You are a treasure, Florence.”, Laurence said as he put the shawl around his neck again. He felt far more complete with it on. “Can you prepare the finished letters so that they can get send off tomorrow?” 

“Of course.”, Florence said and picked up the stack of dried up letters. “I am intending to go home after this if you are fine with it, so I wanted to wish you a good night and we see each other tomorrow.” 

“Yes, that is fine. Have a good night, Florence. Until tomorrow.”, Laurence said and picked up one of the books. The rest of the evening should be spend with reading. 

The rest of the evening was only half spend with reading though, because Mick kept kicking around the various toys Florence had brought and Laurence couldn't help but watching. It was too cute. Sometimes Mick would kick the toy towards his direction and chase after them when he threw them away. Naturally, he barely got through one book before tiredness overcame him and he made himself ready for bed. 

As Laurence made himself comfortable on the couch, he looked at Mick and wondered where the kitten would decide to sleep. Maybe it really would decide to sleep in the cat bed. But he also could decide to sleep in the book shelf. Or under the couch. Laurence probably would find out the next day. It didn't take long for sleep to overtake Laurence, it had been a long day. 

When Laurence awoke, it was still dark. He needed a moment to orientate himself. When he realized he was sleeping in the couch of his office he relaxed a bit, asking himself why he woke. That was easily answered when he felt the need to use the bathroom. Well, this was easily taken care off. As he wanted to pull himself up to stand up, Laurence felt the warm, furry added weight on his chest. 

Apparently, Mick had decided that Laurence himself was the right sleeping place. Laurence felt himself smile at this sight and he extended his hand to pet the kitten. Mick made a surprised “mrrm” sound and then started to purr. 

Laurence had the feeling that he could have stayed like this the whole night and he continued to sleepily pet Mick until his body reminded him of his needs. “I am sorry, Mick.”, he muttered as he picked up the sleepy kitten from his chest to put on the couch and rushed out of the room to take care of his business. 

When he returned, Mick was still on the couch. Laurence laid back down, closed his eyes and shortly after felt how Mick took his position on his chest back. With a smile Laurence gave him a lost stroke before drifting back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I am not the only one who feels awfully sorry for waking her cats when she needs the bathroom in the night, right?! Just why do they decide to sleep on me anyway xD


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurence meets up with his friends and breaks the news to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While we are still at one cat and there is quite some world building in this, we will move to the other ones soon ^^

Laurence was in this comfortable state of being that was laying between awake and asleep, aware that he was huddled in warm blankets and feeling safe and secure. He would certainly fall back asleep any time now, but there was something annoying him. 

A shrill sound and a soft thing that pressed into his face. 

“Hm, lemme sleep...”, Laurence murmured and turned around, tightening the blanket around him. The annoying noise didn't stop though. It was loud and shrill and annoying. The soft pressing at his cheek didn't stop either. 

Was someone trying to wake him? Laurence was pretty sure he was in his office. Not even Florence came into his office to wake him, she would knock at the door first. Also, he doubted that the woman would try to wake him so aggressively. He wanted to raise his hand to shove away whatever annoyance it was when the soft pressing turned into a painful one. 

“Ow!”, Laurence shot up, being fully awake in an instant, hand pressed against his cheek. He could feel warm blood at his fingers. And in front of him was Mick, softly mewing at him. 

Oh right, he had picked up a kitten yesterday. 

“...Is it morning already? I guess you must be hungry...”, Laurence freed himself out of the blankets, not exactly an easy task when one hand was busy keeping a bleeding wound from leaking all over the place and a cat was on the blanket. Once he started to shift though, Mick jumped from his lap. 

“I think we need to cut your claws later...”, Laurence said, making a mental note to ask Florence if she had a nail cutter for him. His gaze was on the blood ministration equipment, but he decided against it. He just had one yesterday. And he shouldn't get one for such a tiny wound. He picked up a handkerchief from his desk and pressed it on the wound as he opened up a can with cat food that still stood on his desk. 

Once the smell of apparently tuna flavoured food met Mick's nostril, the small thing started to scream as if he had been starving. 

“It's alright, I am getting you your food.”, Laurence chuckled as he filled the can into Mick's bowl. Laurence watched Mick eat for a few seconds before he decided that he could start his day when he already was awake. He took his clothes with him and trekked to the bathroom. 

Half an hour later he was showered and dressed. The wound on his cheek had stopped bleeding in the meantime but he still had felt more secure to put a piece of gauze on it which he fixated with some tape. Patching up wounds that couldn't be properly bandaged always felt like a hazard and he didn't had a clue if the gauze and tape would hold. Laurence wondered if something could be done against this... 

As he was walking along the hallways with the intention to get some breakfast, he wondered why it was so quiet in the Church. Wasn't it morning already? The Church usually was more busy at the mornings. 

His concerns got answered when a kitchen worker who carried some trash crossed him and said: “Oh Vicar? You are up early.” 

“Huh, isn't it morning already?”, Laurence asked. 

“It's 6 AM, we just started making breakfast.”, the worker said.

...What?!”, Laurence exclaimed. He thought it had been later. Just because Mick had woken him up. Great, if he had know that, he would have gone back to bed. Or, the couch in his case. 

“I am afraid that you still have to wait for breakfast.”, the worker said further. “Oh, but if you like I could provide you with the usual.” 

With that she meant the sandwich he often requested because he didn't attend dinner at the mess hall. “No, thanks.”, Laurence said. “I wanted to eat with the others today. I just go back into my office.” 

“We will be sure to make it tasty.”, the worker said and gave him a swift bow. Laurence watched until she rounded the corner and then returned to his office. He was satisfied to see that he newspaper had been delivered and laid down in front of it while he had been busy showering. He picked the newspaper up and entered his office only to be greeted by an overwhelming stench. 

Mick coming out of the litter box was the obvious reason for this stench. “Oh, by the Great One, how can something tiny like this produce such a smell?”, he said, a hand covering his mouth and nose. “...I have to take care of this first.” 

A few minutes later the litter box was cleaned and Laurence sat down on his desk, reading the headline of the newspaper. “Blood Ministration treatment spreads throughout Yharnam.” it read. Lovely, the Church was on the first page. After skimming the article about the Church Laurence turned the page and searched for more interesting information. Mostly about the Anti Cainhurst Movement and which Noble managed to come along a fortune so that he knew which people he needed to sweet talk. 

He wasn't even done with reading the headlines on the second page when a black furry orb appeared on the page. Two yellow eyes opened in the orb and with a mew it demanded attention. 

“Mick, I am reading this.”, Laurence scolded the kitten and gently picked it up to set him down next to the newspaper. 

Before he could even lay his eyes back on the newspaper, Mick came back and spread himself all over the newspaper. 

“Mick!”, Laurence complained and picked the kitten back up again. Just as he had found an article he wanted to read closer, Mick came for a third time and sat on the exact same spot he just wanted to read. 

“Stop this, Mick!”, Laurence picked the kitten up once again but before he set him down on the table, he considered that he just would get back onto the newspaper right again. Laurence lowered the kitten on his lap and scratched him behind the ears. “Stay here, will you?” 

Mick let himself fall on his lap and started to purr. Laurence absentmindedly stroked over his fur as he continued to read his newspaper, this time in peace. 

As Laurence was in the middle of solving the crosswords, Mick had gotten considerably warm in his lap. He raised his head when he heard a knock against his door and Micolash's voice sounded: “Ready, Laurence? Maria and Gehrman should be here soon.” 

“Coming.”, Laurence said, gently picking Mick up from his lap which squeaked at the sudden motion and cold. Laurence put the kitten on the couch and hurried to the door. 

“Good morning, Micolash.”, he said once he opened the door. 

“Morning.”, Micolash answered. “Let's go, I am hungry.” 

“Did you fall asleep without eating again?”, Laurence teased. 

“You are one to talk.”, Micolash retorted. As they walked to the mess hall, Laurence had the impression that Micolash stared at this cheek but didn't say anything. 

As they made it to the mess hall, Gehrman and Maria were already waiting for them. They went to their usual table where the breakfast got served. Scrambled eggs and bacon along with a piece of roasted bread, a classic. Like usual it wasn't salty enough for Laurence so he worked on giving his food a little more spice as Gehrman noticed the gauze on his cheek. 

“What happened to your face, Laurence? Did you faint again?”, he asked. 

“I haven't fainted since almost a year now!”, Laurence said. “Not until the first successful blood ministration.” 

“Then what happened? Did you get into a fist fight?”, Gehrman asked. 

“He would be in much more bad shape then.”, Micolash grinned and Laurence gave him an annoyed nudge. 

“It's true.”, Maria commented from across the table and earned a glare of Laurence. 

“Yes, fine, we all know I wouldn't win a fist fight.”, Laurence growled. “I adopted a kitten yesterday. The wound is from its claws.” 

There was a bit of surprise in the faces of his friends before Maria was the first to speak: “Oh, can we see the kitten? How does it look like?” 

“Pitch black and ruffled fur. Like Micolash.”, Laurence grinned, which earned him a nudge from said person. 

“Hey, don't compare me with a cat.”, he complained. 

“For seeing it... I would like for him to get used to the new situation first. So if you could wait a few days...”, he continued. 

“You already given it a name?”, Gehrman asked. 

“Mick.”, Laurence said which earned him a full tackle of Micolash.

“You even named it after me? I want to see it right away!”, he growled. 

“Alright, you are the first one who gets to see him.”, Laurence quickly gave in. 

“You seem to be happy about this.”, Gehrman said and Maria nodded in agreement. 

“Well, I always wanted a cat but it wasn't possible at the school...”, Laurence said. 

“It's fine, just give the little guy some love. I am sure he is in the best hands.”, Gehrman grinned. 

Laurence nodded and smiled. He planned too. He would absolutely shower this cat with his love and affection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, any cat owner knows that a cat just having used the litter box is the worst smell ever...
> 
> I looked it up, band-aids weren't invented until the 20th century, so I had to get creative with the stuff they had in the 19th one ^^ I headcanon that Laurence invented the blood vials later and because this is still early in the church, he isn't downright addicted to the blood yet. 
> 
> What was your favourite part of this chapter? I would be honoured if you tell me in a comment. Thank you very much!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurence' friends are meeting Mick. The kitten shows more of its character.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the first chapters of this were a lot more story driven but I actually want to make it focus mainly on every day life with cats, so starting this chapter, it will be more a few headcanons along with slice of life with cats scenarios.

A few days later Mick had not only grown an inch or two, he also had gotten familiar with Laurence' office and was all too eager to explore the rest of the church. 

Before Laurence let the kitten out of his office though, he held his promise to Micolash and let him into his office to take a look at the kitten that was his namesake. 

Once Laurence had entered the room, Mick had jumped off the couch, mewing at his sight, coming closer with his tail straight in the air, but he stopped once he noticed that Micolash had followed Laurence and his tail started to swing around at the sight of the intruder. 

“Well, Micolash, this is Mick.”, Laurence said, kneeling down to observe the cat as Micolash got closer and kneeled down too, thoroughly studying every feature at the black kitten. 

“You are right, this cat kind of looks like me.”, Micolash said and extended a hand to pet the kitten which got dismissed with a hiss and made Micolash pull back his hand in an instant. 

“Don't scare him like this. Let him come to you first.”, Laurence said. “Or give him some dry fish treats. He loves this stuff.” 

Ever since Laurence had brought Mick back the kitten clearly had demanded to get fed with dry fish treats regularly and so it became a daily occurrence for Laurence to either go to the fish store himself or send someone, usually Florence, to get them for him. Right now he tossed Micolash a small bag filled with the treat which got caught by his friend. 

As Mick saw, or more smelled, the bag, he mewed excitedly and came closer to Micolash, not caring anymore that there was a scary stranger. “See.”, Laurence grinned and sat himself on the couch as he observed how Micolash made friends with Mick over the dry fish treats. 

Once the kitten was full and cleaning himself, Micolash sat himself to Laurence on the couch. “And you just picked him off the cemetery? Why?”, he asked. 

“Because he was cute.”, Laurence said. “And maybe I felt a bit sorry for him... Could be that he also reminded me a bit of myself...” Maybe it hadn't been a coincidence but fate that he had met the cat at his parents grave? Laurence wasn't too sure about it, but he knew that he didn't regret taking Mick in. “Also I always wanted a cat.” 

“I know. Back at Byrgenwerth it was super easy to distract you by just throwing a cat at your direction. It would ensure that you would spend at least thirty minutes playing with it or trying to play with it.” 

“Wait, does that mean every time I saw a cat you have placed it there to get a head start on studying from me?”, Laurence narrowed his eyes, a mystery from his school years suddenly unveiled. 

“Not every time, but often.”, Micolash grinned. “But what does this matter anymore, we both dropped out.” 

“And we managed to build this.”, Laurence gestured at their surroundings. “We wouldn't have made it that far when we had stayed.” 

Laurence and Micolash talked a bit more, at one point Mick came to them to cuddle on with Laurence on his lap and let Micolash pet him, starting to purr loudly. As Micolash offered to get them some drinks, so Laurence wouldn't have to disturb the cat by moving, the kitten suddenly was wide awake, its eyes round like plates and as abrupt as he had awoken, Mick zoomed off, zigzagged through the office, mewed and hissed in nothing at particular, attacked the curtains and jumped from the couch to the shelf to the desk. 

Micolash and Laurence just stared at this behaviour dumbfounded. 

“Did he get stung by a Hornet or what?”, Micolash asked as he set the glasses down on the couch table and promptly picked them up again when Mick brushed them and they started to wiggle. 

“I heard of this behaviour.”, Laurence said, as a kid he had often hung around people with cats and they had told him a lot of stories. “Cats sometimes do it to get rid of too much energy. They call it the crazy five minutes.” 

“And you really named this cat after me?”, Micolash said, sitting down again, waiting for Mick's “five minutes” to be over. 

“Hey, don't you see the striking resemblance in looks and behaviour?”, Laurence grinned at him and got a light smack on the head from Micolash's side. 

After Mick had cavorted enough, he came back to Laurence' lap and plopped down on it. Now that the storm was over, Micolash could finally pour them in their drinks. 

They talked a bit more before Micolash excused himself and left Laurence and the kitten alone. Laurence picked Mick up carefully from his lap and lifted him to his face: “Time for you to see the rest of the church.” 

Introducing Mick to the rest of the church went surprisingly smooth. The kitten didn't want to see that much at first, pretty much was satisfied after he had done a few steps outside the office, body so close to the ground that his stomach almost hit the floor when he snuck around. 

The second day Mick was becoming more brave and explored the whole hallway under Laurence' supervision and on the third day he got curious enough to try and mount the stairs to the upper floor, but he was still small and barely made it so Laurence put him on his shoulders and went up the stairs for him, the kitten staring at everything around them with wide eyes, apparently feeling comfortable sitting on Laurence' shoulders so that he didn't made any tries to jump down. As Laurence was carrying Mick around, occasionally commenting on something church related, he ran into Gehrman and Maria who apparently had decided to visit the church. 

“Oh, hey, Laurence, how is it going?”, Gehrman said as he noticed his friend, Maria nodded along to his words. Gehrman's eyes lighted up when he saw Laurence' little companion and he said: “Is that the kitten you picked up? Look at him, he really looks like Micolash.” Gehrman laughed and let the kitten play with his finger, always pulling it away whenever Mick would have caught it. The hind claws of Mick though pierced rather painful through Laurence' shoulders. 

“Ouch... stop this, Gehrman, don't fix him on like this!”, he complained. “This hurts... and he makes holes in my clothes!” 

“Ah, sorry.”, Gehrman said, retreating his fingers. Mick still stared at them when Laurence removed him from his shoulders to carry him in his arms instead.

“What are you doing here?”, Laurence asked.

“Gehrman was thinking about recruiting a few more hunters to help with the beasts that occasionally escape the pthumerian graves and because the workshop doesn't have enough room for them, we wanted to take a look if the church would have enough room to house them.”, Maria answered on his behalf. As she spoke she had a dreamy look in her eyes and suddenly asked: “May I pet the kitten?”

“Hm, oh, sure...”, Laurence said, holding Mick out to Maria who leaned into her touch, staring to purr in an instant. Then it hit him what Maria had said: “Wait, you want to house hunters here without having asked me first?!” 

“That is why we were looking first.”, Maria said, smiling at Mick, “Before we know if there is room it wouldn't make a lot of sense to ask.” 

“Actually makes sense...”, Laurence said. “Listen, you can feel free to search for a lot in Cathedral Ward to establish a workshop there. The one you have is really really small, it barely has room for you two. It could be better when all the Hunters are at the same place.” 

“Really? Thank you, Laurence!”, Gehrman said, his eyes lighting up. “I make sure to bring some treats for your cat next.” After he had said that, Gehrman had dashed off. Maria gave Mick a last pet and followed him: “We'll see each other around.”

After this encounter Laurence' life got back to normal, only difference was that he had a cat with him now. Mick mostly still stayed in his office, but he opened him the door whenever he wanted out or in. At the moment, Mick was waiting in front of the door, demanding to be let out when Laurence was busy sighting the daily newspaper. 

As Mick's mews got too irritating, Laurence sighed, stood up and walked the short distance to the door to open it. Once Mick had slipped out, he closed the door again, walked back to his desk and straightened the newspaper to continue reading. 

Not even five minutes later Laurence heard Mick scream outside of the door, demanding to be let in. “That was quick...”, Laurence murmured and opened the door. Mick slipped in and Laurence went back to his desk. 

A few minutes later Mick was mewing at the door again. “Really?”, Laurence said as he stood up to let Mick out. As he heard the mewing of Mick to be let in just as he had sat down and picked up the newspaper to continue reading, his patience ran out. He hurried to the door, opened it and when Mick came in, Laurence tapped his foot, saying: “In... out... would it be so hard to just _decide_ what you want?!” 

Mick just stared at Laurence with his big yellow eyes and turned around to go outside again. The rest of the day the door of Laurence' office was ajar. 

The next day, Laurence found Gehrman in his workshop and before his friend could even say hello, he murmured: “Gehrman, I need you to build a cat door into my office. Ask no questions.” After that, Laurence left leaving a very confused Gehrman behind, but found the requested cat door had build in the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Isn't a cat that can't decided if it wants in or out the most annoying thing ever?!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurence picks up a second cat who got hurt. She gets introduced to Mick. He has trouble finding a name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, the rest of the chapters will most probably be stand alone pieces about how the different cats made it into Laurence' life and cat shenanigans. They probably won't be super long each and I write them whenever I feel like it, so please be patient with this story. I mostly do it in good fun and for cat lovers like me.

Laurence looked left and right and then down the hallway, making sure the coast was clear before hurrying down the way to his office, a small fluffy white creature was cradled in his arms. Just as he made it to the door of his office and proceeded to think about how to open it with his passenger, he heard the voice of Florence behind him. 

“Vicar, what is it that you have there?”, she said in a booming voice and Laurence turned around, the creature in his arms meowing in protest at the sudden motion. 

“It's a, um, cat...”, he said. 

“I see that it is a cat. Why have you brought it here?”, Florence said, rubbing her temples while sighing. “You already have a cat here. And you won't know if Mick will like this one. This could be only pain and misery...” 

“But... but...”, Laurence said and then presented a part of the cat that Florence hadn't been able to see yet. “I couldn't just leave her out there. Look, she's injured, she has a nasty cut on her paw.” 

“Then knock yourself out.”, Florence said, knowing that she couldn't stop Laurence anyway. “But let me come with you, in case Mick is in your office so that I can distract him. Also, you seem to need someone to open the door for you.” 

Laurence nodded, blushing a bit, the cat had curled itself into his arms again. The truth was, Laurence had fed this particular cat for quite some time now and he had intended to bring her in soon, but not so soon. Her getting hurt just had sped up the process. In fact, he wanted to tell Florence about it before hand, but he had brought her in even when Florence hadn't approved of it. 

Once the door was opened Florence stepped through the door and looked for Mick. The black cat was nowhere to be seen so she waved for Laurence to enter who put the white fluff down on his desk, taking a look at the paw. 

“Are you going to do a blood ministration?”, Florence asked, closing the door. 

“On such a tiny animal? No.”, Laurence said. “Our blood ministrations are adjusted for humans. I will take care of the wound the old fashioned way. Would you make sure that she stays on the table?” 

Florence stepped closer to gently hold the white cloud down as Laurence hurried along his office and pulled out various medical equipments. “Shouldn't you let a veterinarian take a look?”, she asked. 

“Since I got Mick I learned about typical illnesses and injuries that cats can get and stocked up on equipment.”, Laurence said. Back in Byrgenwerth his focus had been on medicine, he had intended to become a doctor like his parents and so he had confidence in his own abilities to treat a wound like that. 

“First, we should cut the fur around the wound...”, Laurence said, picking up some scissors and going to work, white fur soon was littering the table around the cat's hurt paw, then he picked up on a clean cloth and dipped it into a bowl with water and carefully started to rub the wound, which made the cat flinch and hiss. 

“This must hurt...”, Florence said.

“You are doing a great job.”, Laurence said and Florence first thought he meant her but when she saw him pet the cat it was apparent that he had talked to the animal. 

“Now let's stitch the wound...”, he picked up a needle and got the suture through the eye of the needle, making Florence question how the Vicar was completely unable to sew a ripped piece of cloth together but didn't had any trouble stitching a wound with quick and calculated movements. 

“And now we just need to bandage it with some gauze.”, Laurence said and soon the cat's paw was wrapped into a thick layer of it. Laurence cut off the gauze and fixed the end of it to the rest of the bandage before carefully scooping the cat up and putting it on the floor, where the poor thing stayed for a few minutes, tail curled into herself and ears flat on her head. 

“Thanks for your help, Florence.”, Laurence said. “I don't know where she got a cut like this. Maybe someone broke a bottle and left the shards lying around.” His gaze darkened. “We should make sure that people don't let their waste lying around cathedral ward.” 

“Shall I put this onto the list of topics for the next meeting?”, Florence asked. 

“Yes, please.”, Laurence said and kneeled down to observe the cat. “Hey, what's the matter, beauty? Let me see if you can walk like this.” 

“I think she might still be shocked.”, Florence said as she headed for the door. “Give the poor thing some time.” 

Florence had a point so Laurence sat himself down on the couch and picked up one of his books. After he had read a few pages he could feel something soft and warm pressing against his legs and as he looked down he saw the white cat. He put his book to the side and gently picked her up, laying her down on his lap, stroking through her long white fur. 

“I wonder which name I shall give you...”, he said as the cat curled up in his lap and started to purr. 

Laurence went through a few names in his head as his hand practically vanished into the thick fur of the cat. Fluffy was the first one that came to mind but that felt far too obvious. He could do better than that. He tried to think a bit more but all the other names he came up with were cloud or cotton and that also felt too much at the nose. Maybe not something that referenced her fur but her colour? Snowball, Snowflake or Blizzard came to mind, but Laurence had to admit, he hated snow and he didn't want to name a cat after a thing he loathed. 

While he was still thinking, the cat door clattered and Mick came in. Laurence froze and stopped stroking the white fluff's fur as the black cat came into his direction with a cheerful meow, but he froze too once he saw the new cat. And the new cat raised her head, confused why the petting had stopped and her eyes widened when she saw Mick. 

“Oh fuck, I should have told Florence to keep him in a separate room...”, Laurence murmured, his eyes focused on Mick. Mick was a tiny cat, the white fluff pretty much was a third bigger than him (though that could partially be because of her fur), but Mick also was a little brave one. Or stupid one, depending on the context. 

And so it was Mick who began to move first and jumped on the couch. The white fluff reacted rather negatively and gave a warning hiss and Laurence already wanted to get up and separate the two cats when Mick came closer to gave the new cat a friendly sniffling. 

Though her ears were still flat on her head, the white fluff sniffed back and soon after this first contact Mick sniffed more at her and intensely at the bandaged paw which must have smelled weird for him. The white cat did let it happen and curled herself back in Laurence' lap once Mick was finished with his inspection. 

Laurence continued to stroke the fur of the white fluff and observed Mick who did his patrol through his office before coming back to the couch and letting himself fall down near Laurence, pressed closely against his leg. 

“I have two hands, who?”, Laurence said and spent a good time getting both cats to partake into a purring competition until he had to get up and sat the white fluff down with a heavy heart. 

As Laurence made himself ready to continue working, he noticed the very obvious very long white cat hair on his clothes. With his preference for the black church set, this was bound to happen. He spend a good time trying to get the cat hair off and made a mental note to ask Florence for help with this particular matter the next time he saw her. 

The next few days the white fluff and Mick became friends and cuddled with each other, making Laurence' heart mealt when he saw it and her paw started to heal. She seemed to like to climb on Laurence' shoulders and just lay down there, letting herself carry wherever he went. It felt as adorable as it looked like and he could see people smiling at him whenever he carried her around. The only problem he had with the cat, he still hadn't found a name for her. 

Now it must have been five days since he had adopted the white fluff and Laurence was walking down the church corridors while she was lying on his shoulders once again, her tail twitching occasionally when he ran into Gehrman, who stared at him and then said: “Laurence, what's that?” 

“It's a cat.”, Laurence said, dumbfounded that his friend couldn't see the obvious. 

“I know it is a cat! What I want to know is which cat! This clearly isn't Mick!”, Gehrman shouted. 

“Oh.”, Laurence said. “I found her a few days ago. She was injured, so I took her in.” He removed her from his shoulders to present the hurt paw at Gehrman. “See, her paw had a nasty cut and needed stitches. I should be able to get the suture out in two days.” 

The white fluff meowed in disdain of having been removed from Laurence' shoulders and being presented to the stranger, who simply stared at her with sparkling eyes. 

“She's beautiful.”, he said. “Beautiful just like Maria. Take good care of her.” 

And without any further ado, Gehrman had rounded the corner without another word. Laurence looked at the cat and held her a bit higher, looking at her face. “Hm.. Mary.”, he said. “I will call you Mary.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lying on the shoulders I took directly from my own cat, Clara, who always climbs on my husband's shoulders to let herself carry around. She tries with me too but my shoulders are small and so it is more a staggering around while her claws are boring into my skin... ouch!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurence has found another cat and his first instinct is to show it to Gehrman, because it looks exactly like him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a while and I have to apologize. I haven't been very inspired for this story at all and then had to fix my Bloodborne timeline because it contradicted canon. But now, I am back and this one was a BLAST to write. It is certainly more on the comedic site and I hope that I manage to make you laugh a few times ^^

“Gehrman, look, I found a cat that looks exactly like you!” 

Laurence was standing in the door that led to the Hunter's Workshop, presenting a brown, gruff looking cat to Gehrman, who stood there with the door handle still in hand and then said:

“Really, Laurence, that is what you have come here for? Normally when you come here you ask me if you can use the bathroom.” 

“Isn't he just wonderful?”, Laurence said, stepping in, slumping the cat over his shoulder which buried his claws in his skin which made him wince a bit. “I have fed him for a while already and he finally has let himself picked up and... hey, I don't only come here to use the bathroom!” 

“Seven out of ten times, Laurence.”, Gehrman said and chuckled. The Vicar had the habit to drink too much, alcohol or not, and it had became a common occasion for him to stop at the workshop for a bathroom break before going back to the church. 

“Five out of ten.”, Laurence countered, “I also often come here just to spend time with you. And Maria.” 

“Speaking of... Maria, would you say that Laurence comes here all the time just to use our bathroom?”, Gehrman called and Maria came trotting down the stairs, laying a hand around Gehrman's shoulder and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

“Seven out of ten times.”, Maria chuckled. “Hey, Laurence, you got a new cat?” 

“Who needs foes with friends like you?”, Laurence complained as he walked towards the stairs that led into the workshop. “And yes, that is a new cat. He looks just like Gehrman, don't you think? I am going to call him Gary.” Laurence removed the cat from his shoulder and presented him to Maria. 

“They surely both have this serious look in their eyes.”, Maria said. “And the fur colour is the same colour as Gehrman's hair, though, his already starts to grey out a bit.” 

“Already? You aren't even thirty.”, Laurence said, looking back at Gehrman who lagged a bit behind. It was because of his peg leg. Unfortunately he had lost it in a hunt before Laurence had come up with the blood vials and every help to save the leg had come too late. It didn't stop Gehrman to still be a top tier hunter, though most of the time in private Gehrman preferred to use a wheelchair, it was easier for his leg. According to Maria he still had nightmares about the incident as well as phantom pains. 

“Not everybody can have a head full of crimson like you.”, Gehrman scoffed. 

“It's auburn, Gehrman.”, Laurence frowned. He hated it when people called him a redhead, finding his hair to be a mixture of brown and red and auburn was the perfect word for it, why did everyone insist on called him a redhead? 

“You know, the more you are getting annoyed by his teasing, the more he will do it.”, Maria said and Laurence sighed: 

“I know...” 

The trio reached the interior workshop and Laurence put Gary down. He stretched and yawned and then started to clean himself and now that the cat wasn't cradled in Laurence' arms anymore, a certain detail got revealed. The right hind leg of the cat was missing, only a stump remained. 

“Laurence...”, Gehrman said in a threatening voice and Maria hardly was able to contain her laughter as she saw Laurence' face splitting in a grin. “You didn't happen to only come here to show me the cat because of the glaring fact, that it is missing a leg at the exact same spot as me...?” 

Laurence' eyes lit up and he turned to Gehrman: “Isn't it GREAT? I thought the cat looked like you already and then it really is a male and it has the same colour as your hair and then it even misses a leg just like you. And that was too good to be a coincidence so I had to call him Gary right away!” 

After his rant was over Maria couldn't contain her laughter anymore, the both of them were too cute. Gehrman acting all upset and hurt and Laurence being so delighted about having found a cat that just looked like him. In fact, the more she looked at Gary, the more she saw the similarities between them. 

“He's right, Gehrman.”, she said. “The cat kind of looks like you.” 

“Maria, not you too.”, Gehrman complained and then turned to Laurence: “I think I can't let you use my bathroom anymore.” 

Laurence gasped and put both hands over his mouth: “You wouldn't!” 

“No, of course not, but would you stop making fun about me?!” 

“I am going to get us some tea.”, Maria said as the playful fight between the boys, hm, actually they were grown man, but they were acting like teenagers, continued. 

When Maria came back it was obvious that Gehrman had pushed one of Laurence' berserk buttons by calling him Lawrence, because the latter was in the process on his rant just how different the names were and that the pronunciation was very different regarding to the spelling and she couldn't say if Gehrman was bored or tried to contain his laughter. 

“Guys, I made some tea!”, she said, putting three cups on the table and poured it in. “Drop your silly argument and come here.” 

“It wasn't silly.”, Laurence complained but came over nonetheless. 

“It was. You are ridiculous and you know it.”, Gehrman said, earning a stare of Laurence who already opened his mouth. 

“Guys.”, Maria said another time, while putting a bowl with milk down for the cat who had still cleaned himself during the whole argument. That shut Laurence up and also, his gaze wandered to the cat again and Maria could tell that he was enchanted by its cuteness as it licked the milk, getting a bit on its nose and licking it off. 

“He's adorable.”, Laurence said, pretty much drinking half of his tea off the reel, despite it being still hot. The Vicar just didn't seem to mind hot beverages at all. 

“How do you do this, Laurence?”, Gehrman asked, who was busy putting milk and sugar in his tea. Maria took a little bit of sugar herself. Laurence, like usual, would just drink it plain. 

“Drinking tea?”, Laurence asked, eyes still on Gary. 

“No, drinking scalding hot tea without burning yourself.”, Gehrman sighed.

“What? This is hardly hot.”, Laurence finished off the cup and poured himself another one. 

“That's it, your taste buds have died long ago and that is why you always put so much salt at your food.”, Gehrman scoffed, earning a glare of Laurence. 

“Enough, guys.”, Maria said with a certain danger in her voice, making them drop the argument instantly. 

“So.”, Maria said after she had taken the first sip of her tea, “Where have you picked the cat up, Laurence?” 

“He's called Gary.”, Laurence said. “Near to the sewers. I think he hunted there. Often found him dissecting a prey. He still liked my treats more. I guess they taste better. And are easier to obtain.” 

“Yes, because all a cat needs to do for you to feed them is existing within your sight.”, Gehrman said, after drinking from tea that was far too sweet for Laurence' tastes. 

“What's wrong with liking cats?”, Laurence looked down at his cup, wishing a bit that he had a spoon to swirl the liquid around. Because Maria knew that he never put sugar or milk in, she hadn't give him one. He settled on sipping on the cup instead. 

“Nothing. Nothing is wrong with it.”, Maria said, trying to avoid another argument. Gary had finished the milk in the meantime and turned around, coming to inspect the table. Despite him having only three legs, he walked fast and clear, just a slight limp was to see. And once he was at the table, he jumped up and landed on Gehrman's lap, who nearly knocked his tea over. 

“See, Gary likes you already.”, Laurence grinned, finishing his second cup and pouring himself a third one. “You are similar and he knows it.” 

“While I want to disagree, he is warm and soft.”, Gehrman said. “And I like the thought of being warm and soft.” 

“Maria should be the one who can vouch for this.”, Laurence still grinned. 

“When we read together cuddled in bed, he certainly is warm and soft.”, Maria said. “Unless we are getting in the mood, then...”

“Maria!”, Gehrman shouted, but Laurence already broke into a fit of giggles, having gotten Maria's implications. 

“So you are still very much in love, you two.”, he concluded and guided the cup to his lips again. How Laurence was able to drink so much tea in such a short time was going completely over Maria's mind, her first cup was only halfway empty. 

“Yes, you could say this.”, she smiled at him. 

“What about you, Laurence?”, Gehrman asked. “Don't you want to take a partner? There are surely quite a few women who are willing to marry you. You are the Vicar, you have the Healing Blood and you are handsome.”, Gehrman stroked Gary who purred on his lap and looked into Laurence' eyes.

“Oh, you are flattering me.”, Laurence said, putting his almost empty cup down. “But no, I don't intend to take a partner or even marry. I have the cats, that is enough for me.” 

“Really?”, Maria's eyes glinted. “And it hasn't to do with the fact that I hear a lot of young women around the town boasting they have shared their bed with the Vicar?” 

Laurence, who had taken his cup up again to finish it off nearly choked on the contents and Gehrman shot up, cursing when Gary loudly meowed and pound his claws in his leg, trying to remove the cat gently. It was Maria who helped Laurence to cough it out. 

Once his lungs weren't filled with tea anymore, Laurence croaked: “It's none of your business in which beds I decide to spend the nights. I have go to all these super boring noble parties. Let me have some fun with it.” 

“I mean, as long as you are responsible about it when something happens.”, Gehrman said, having sat down, Gary trotting away from the table with a face of betrayal. 

“I am infertile, remember?”, Laurence just said, already pouring himself a fourth cup. 

“Good, because we don't need more of you around.”, Gehrman laughed and before Maria could say anything, the argument between them had broken out again. She used the opportunity to get the tea can away from Laurence at least, he must have drank half of the can single-handedly. 

A while later they calmed down, mostly because Laurence was scanning the room. “Hey, where's Gary?”, he asked. 

“No clue.”, Gehrman said and Maria shrugged her shoulders. 

“He will be fine, there is nowhere he can wander far off here.”, she said. “Maybe he is on the flower meadow. Or climbed the tree.”

“Hm, I hope so. I don't want him to get hurt.”, Laurence said. 

“And if, you can just heal him with a blood vial.”, Gehrman said. 

“These are for humans, not for cats.”, Laurence said. “You know as well as I that the blood has an intoxicant effect on the mind, I really don't want to give it to a cat.” 

“I am glad to inform you that he is fine then.”, Maria chimed in. “It seems that Gary just has gotten hungry.” 

Both the eyes of Laurence and Gehrman followed Maria's and settled on Gary, who had caught a rather fat mouse and was now in the process of devouring it. 

“The cat is really like you.”, Laurence said. “It's also a hunter.” 

“I then have to accept my seldom defeat.”, Gehrman groaned. “Yes, the cat looks like me and is similar to me. Are you happy?” 

“Yes.”, Laurence grinned. 

The three of them chatted for a while longer until Laurence stood up and stated that he needed to head back to the church now. He went over to pick Gary up, but then turned around, an uncomfortable look in his face. 

“...Gehrman... can I use your bathroom before I go?” 

“By the great ones, Laurence, just go.”, Gehrman half scolded and half laughed at Laurence and took Gary while the Vicar hurried off. 

“I am not surprised, after all the tea he had.”, Maria said, coming closer to Gehrman and scratching Gary behind the ears. “I just hope he will get along with Mick and Mary. Especially with Mary.” 

“For me, it will be enough if he gets along with Mary.”, Gehrman said and the both of them were soon locked in a passionate kiss. 

“What are you doing?”, Laurence' voice came. “Make out when I am not around, have some decency. At least wait until I am gone.” 

Both Gehrman and Maria stared at him. “And that is coming from you.”, Gehrman said as he handed Gary to Laurence. 

“Whatever.”, Laurence said, his face lighting up once the brown cat settled in his arms. “It was fun today, we'll see each other Sunday.” 

Laurence waved with the hand that wasn't occupied cradling the cat and soon the workshop was silent once again. 

“How about we continue what we have started?”, Gehrman said as he caressed Maria's face. 

“With pleasure.”, Maria said, leaning in his embrace. 

Outside of the workshop, Laurence stood there for a while, just stroking Gary, wanting him to relax into sleep before he brought him to the church when a hunter with long black hair approached the workshop. 

“I wouldn't go in there when I am you.”, he said and made a suggestive gesture. 

The Hunter stared at him with big eyes before saying: “So they are in the process of...” 

“Mhm.”, Laurence just nodded. “Better come back later.” Gary finally had fallen asleep so Laurence gave the hunter a nod before he turned around to leave. 

While he was on the way back to the church, the unknown hunter wouldn't leave his mind. Laurence found him to be really, really cute. He certainly was hoping to see him again in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't planned for Gehrmaria in this fic, but then I saw a tumblr post where someone cried so hard they got a nosebleed because they shipped Gehrmaria and got harassed about it and GUESS what? Gehrman and Maria are a thing in my fic now and there is nothing you can change about that!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurence shows a young Amelia his cats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had two chapter ideas for this and my Laurence Discord voted that they wanted to see the Amelia chapter first. Enjoy!

“What's wrong, Amelia? You seem rather upset.,” Laurence asked and the toddler in front of him pouted and crossed her arms. 

“You let me win.”, she said. 

Laurence had spent the last few hours playing board games with the little girl and in fact, he had gotten easy on her a few times, not wanting to risk tears when he would win all the time, to win board games was easy for him, even against adults, so winning against a toddler was literally child's play. 

“Well, if I would have beaten you all the time you would have gotten upset. And now that you win you are also upset?”, Laurence asked. “That kind of makes me the loser in all ways, don't you think.” 

“Still.”, Amelia said and turned around, still pouting. If Laurence wasn't infertile and therefore knew that Amelia couldn't be his child, he would have considered that she could have been the result of one of his many one night stands. Despite her young age of three years she was not only very intelligent already, could talk with almost no trouble and she also was bratty. Just like him. 

“Come on, Amelia, I am sorry.”, Laurence said, feeling a bit bad about having teased the girl. Smart or not, she still was a sensitive toddler and had to sort her feelings out. “Let's ditch the board games for now. What do you want to play?” 

That got Amelia's attention and she turned her head around and clapped her hands: “I wanna see the cats!” 

“What... Amelia, I don't think that is a too good idea...”, Laurence said. He had made the mistake and mentioned the cats in front of the girl, but he knew how toddlers were and feared that she would get hurt when she would try to pet them and probably completely disrespect their boundaries. Though, he had a hard time to say no when Amelia looked at him with this big pleading eyes. 

“Fine.”, Laurence gave in. “But there are rules. The first rule is, don't touch them without asking me first and the second rule, no loud noises. And be gentle with them. Do you understand, Amelia?” 

The toddler stood up and nodded excitingly, already extending her hand for Laurence to take. Laurence actually never had planned to get children of his own, and not only because he was physically incapable of it, but also because he thought he wouldn't make a good father. So how had this little girl managed to worm her way into his heart? Even though he planned for her to become the next Vicar once he would retire (in the far future), he already thought about making it official and adopting her. 

As he and Amelia walked out of the room, Laurence spoke: “I have three cats. Mick, Mary and Gary. All of them have different characters and temperaments. Mick is the one who is the most unpredictable, so I would prefer to introduce you to Mary or Gary first. I would say Gary, he is a pretty relaxed cat.” 

“Mhm.”, Amelia said, indicating that she had listened to what Laurence had said. For how bratty she could be, Amelia had been raised in the church orphanage, she had been a foundling, abandoned as a newborn (was he really sure he wasn't his... being infertile could mean that there was just a tiny little chance, so tiny that it would practically never happen), so she had been raised to have perfect manners. Laurence knew that she let herself go in his presence because he let her. 

“Hmmm... where would Gary be at this time of day?”, Laurence asked himself. The cats hung out around all kind of places in the church. Mick often was notoriously hidden, Mary liked to hang around in the library and Gary... Gary would often hunt mouses that made it into the church. Which made the cellar or the attic most likely, where he didn't exactly wanted Amelia to take. Laurence considered to go to the library to introduce Mary instead when he saw Gary strolling along the hallway. What luck! 

“Oh, look, there's Gary.”, Laurence said and kneeled down, laying his hand on Amelia's shoulder. The girl stared at the cat with big sparkling eyes and Gary stopped, turning his grumpy face to stare right back, unblinking, as it was typical for cats. 

“Laurence, look.”, Amelia said. “It's leg's missing. Just like uncle Gehrman.” 

Laurence had to restrain himself from not laughing out loud, she had pointed out the exact same thing why Laurence had named Gary after Gehrman. As he caught his breath trying not to howl and thinking about how to break to Gehrman that even a toddler thought Gary looked like him, Amelia plucked at this sleeve and asked: “Laurence, are you alright?” 

“What? Oh, sorry, Amelia, dear, I am fine.”, he said. “How about we try to see if Gary wants to come over?” 

Amelia nodded her head with such enthusiasm that her long hair got all dishevelled and she gave Laurence a grin. He certainly needed to give her a brushing later. 

“When you want for a cat to come over.”, Laurence said, “You stretch out one finger.” Laurence did as he said and promptly Gary came over to sniff at the finger. “They just have to come over and sniff at it. And then, you show them your palm and when they want pets... they decide for you.” 

Laurence offered his palm to Gary and the cat promptly pressed his head into Laurence' head, accompanied by a deep purr. 

“What's that? Is kitty upset?”, Amelia asked, clearly concerned. 

“Oh no no no, that is a good sign.”, Laurence said. “It's called purring. Cats do this when they are content. He likes being pet by me.” 

“Can I pet him too?”, Amelia's eyes got even bigger than Laurence thought would have been possibly. 

“Sure. Just do like I showed you.”, Laurence said, withdrawing his hand. Gary opened his eyes and stared at Laurence with disdain, clearly having expected more pets. 

Amelia also kneeled down, even though she was still tiny for a human, she was already bigger than a cat and extended her had just like Laurence had showed her. Gary sniffed it for a bit before he decided that he would like more pets and pressed his head against the tiny hand of the toddler. 

“Laurence, he's soft.”, Amelia squeaked and then flinching, clearly remembering that Laurence had warned her not to make loud noises. “He's soft.”, she said in a whisper, making Laurence chuckle, both because it was funny and because the sight of Gary pressing his head into Amelia's tiny hand was adorable. 

“Just wait until you meet Mary.”, Laurence said, feeling confident that Amelia would be able to handle her just fine. He just had his doubts about Mick and would save him for a later date. “She is often in the library. Come, let's go, Amelia.” 

“Shortlyyy...”, Amelia said, still being engrossed by petting Gary. Laurence waited and observed her, it wasn't like they were in a hurry. As he noticed that Gary started to have enough, he said. “See, he is stiff now and has enough. Stop petting him or he could scratch.” 

Amelia immediately let go of Gary and came running back to Laurence who took her hand again. 

The both of them walked to the library without incidents, where the librarian cheerfully greeted Laurence and Amelia and offered her candy and soon the toddler was blissfully chewing on some, a thing she didn't had in common with Laurence who disliked sweets. Well, maybe he had liked them before his chronical illness had struck, but he associated the taste too much with being dizzy and feeling weak to be able to enjoy it anymore. 

“Mary likes to sleep in the book shelves.”, Laurence explained. “Finding her could take a while though. There are so many here.” 

“So many books.”, Amelia pointed out. “How often could you read a bed time story with them?” 

“A lot.”, Laurence simply answered. “We would never run out of bed time stories.” Though of course not every book was appropriate for a bed time story. 

Luck was once again at Laurence' side, because he spotted Mary in the astronomy section, being curled in at around his eye height. 

“Ah, there she is.”, Laurence said and as Amelia looked around, getting gradually more disappointed about not spotting the cat, Laurence picked her up. “Right there.”, she said and saw how the toddler's eyes sparkled again. 

“A cloud!”, she exclaimed and then promptly put both hands in front of her mouth and whispered: “A cloud.”

Laurence had to chuckle a bit, that was too cute. Thankfully Mary wasn't bothered a lot, she just raised her head and blinked sleepily at the toddler, then making a big yawn and sitting up, stretching, blinking a bit more. 

“It seems like we woke her up.”, Laurence said. “Do you want to pet her?” 

Amelia nodded with excitement and Laurence moved Amelia closer to the shelf, so that the girl could offer the cat her hand, she was a quick learner indeed. After Mary had sniffed it intensely, no wonder, Gary's scent must still have been on it, she allowed the toddler to pet her and Amelia giggled at the soft touch. 

“So soft...”, she whsipered. 

“Mary is the softest cat around here.”, Laurence smiled. Well, her fur was the softest, from the character she had quite some willpower, just like the woman he had named her after. 

It felt like Amelia would have liked to pet Mary for ages, but eventually Laurence had to intervene, because he had the feeling that Mary got upset. 

“When a cat doesn't like to be touched anymore, you have to respect this.”, Laurence said. “If it gets stiff or growls or even hisses, you better stop or it could attack. And Mary looks rather stiff to me. Let's leave her for now, alright?” 

“Yeees.”, Amelia said and withdrew her hand, but still kept her eyes on the cat. “That were, um, two.”, she said, leave it to Amelia to already be able to count just fine. “Where is the last one?” 

“Mick?”, Laurence said. “I would prefer for you to not meet him yet. He is pretty... unpredictable. Like, even I can't say what is going on in his mind, I couldn't protect you when anything bad happens, understood?” 

“Yes...”, Amelia said, but she looked a bit disappointed. Apparently Laurence had found himself a cat lover as big as himself. That were good conditions if he planned to adopt her. The more they had in common, the easier it would be for them to bond. 

“Listen, Amelia, because we are already here, how about I read a story to you?”, Laurence offered.

“Yay!”, Amelia clapped her hands at the suggestion. 

“Great, then let's make ourselves comfortable.”, Laurence lowered the girl to the ground and took her hand, guiding her to a part deeper in the library, where there were two armchairs and a rocking chair standing around, some kind of reading corner. Laurence helped Amelia sitting in one of the armchairs and then said: “Wait here while I pick out a book.” 

Amelia nodded and Laurence could see like she glanced around the library with interest. He knew it was no trouble for her to be alone for a few minutes, she wouldn't wander off. And she would have spoken up if she needed anything, like food, water or a bathroom break. 

Laurence asked himself just which children's book he should read to her as he stood in front of the proper section and eventually picked out a book with short stories, one that he remembered from his own childhood, it made him a bit nostalgic when he thought about how he had sat on his own mother's lap as she had read it to him. 

As Laurence returned to the book he saw that Amelia had propped herself up on the arm rest and stared at something on the rocking chair. Inevitably his gaze went there too and he gasped when he saw.. a cat. A cat that he never had seen before. 

“Who's thaaat?”, Amelia asked. 

“I don't know.”, Laurence said. The cat was from a medium size, a grey tabby with white paws and was sleeping soundly. “I have never seen that cat before...” 

Laurence put the book down and picked Amelia up before he sat down, placing her on his lap. “Maybe it wandered in the church because it smelled food. Or followed the other cats.”, Laurence mused, picking the book up. “I think about it later, it seems harmless. How about I read to you now?” 

Amelia was more than eager to get a story and after a while the toddler had managed to fall asleep in his arms. “Time for your nap, hm..”, Laurence said as he stroked her hair and gently picked her up, bringing her back to the orphanage so that she could nap in a proper bed. Fortunately, she was a heavy sleeper, just as heavy as he had been as a child. 

After Laurence had brought Amelia back, he went back to the library and confronted the librarian about the unknown cat. 

“Huh... that isn't one of your cats, Vicar?”, she said, clearly being confused. 

“I have never seen this cat in my life.”, Laurence said. 

“Well, he once turned up sleeping into the rocking chair and we started to give him some treats.”, the librarian said. “He would always eventually leave, we didn't think anything about it. Like I said, we though it was one of yours. Shall we kick him out?” 

“No.”, Laurence said. “When he is already there, he can stay. Have you given him a name?”

“Not yet. We always wanted to ask you about his name, but it was never the right time.”, the librarian said. “Why don't you give him a name now?” 

“Hmmm...”, Laurence said. “I guess I need to look at him a bit closer.” 

He went back to the rocking chair in which the cat still slept, completely ignoring anything and anyone. Laurence even kneeled down to pet him and he didn't react, well, outside of a slight purr.

“You know who you remind me off?”, Laurence said as he continued to stroke the rough fur of the cat. “The old geezer. Always in his rocking chair, wouldn't pay attention to any of us when he stared out at the lake. I know.”

He stood up and looked down at the cat: “I am going to call you Will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't planned to introduce a new cat at first, but then I got the idea for a Master Willem cat which just wandered into the church and made himself at home. 
> 
> Also, I wrote Amelia with my own toddler experience in mind, I have a nephew who is around four years old and it is very typical for toddler to draw their words out or talk in short sentences. Also, Laurence is talking normally to Amelia because baby speech is dumb.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurence is eager to get a good night's sleep, but he hasn't considered the cats.

It had been one of these rare days where Laurence had decided not to work overtime, but instead relax after work and go to bed at a reasonable time. That he hadn't really slept for a whole forty eight hours beforehand probably also had been a deciding factor. So right at this moment, Laurence was chilling in his room with a book, sitting in an armchair, Mary on his lap and Gary occupying the arm rest while Mick was sitting on top of the back rest. Laurence also was pretty sure that he had seen Will sleeping at one of the chairs near the table, so it was also one of these rare days, where all of his cats were at one place. 

With Laurence starting not to be able to concentrate on the book anymore, but instead dozing off again and again, not being able to keep his eyes open, he decided that it was time to properly go to sleep. 

“Mary, I know you like my lap, but would you let me get up, please?”, Laurence said and in response the cat only blinked sleepily at him. “I thought so.”, Laurence got up and picked Mary up in the same motion, which made Mary escape a muffled mew, her tail lashing around. After Laurence had put Mary safely on the ground and walked near his wardrobe, both Gary and Mick jumped up and followed him, Mick rubbing against his legs. 

“You guys already had food, why do you think you get some more?”, Laurence said, opening the wardrobe and finding some pajamas to change into. As he changed into them, he noticed that he still had a bag with fish treats in the coat of his church set. “Oh, that is what you wanted.”, he said, wondering if the cats only had hung around him because they could smell the snacks. He picked out three and gave them to Mick, Gary and Mary, which all three were pretty vocal about getting more. 

“No, that was enough.”, Laurence said, putting the bag into a drawer and locking it with a key. “There, now nobody can get them anymore.” 

All three cats looked rather pissed that the treats were now out of place, but calmed down soon enough, well, besides Mick, who again rubbed against Laurence' leg. “Mick, don't tell me you are still hungry. It is like I have never fed you. You surely must be starving.”, Laurence said, emphasizing the last word in a rather dramatic way. He bend down and gave Mick a good rubble until his fur was standing in all directions, which the cat wouldn't take and started to lick his fur to flatten it. 

Laurence then proceeded to go into bed, first by neatly hanging up his church set, so that he could wear the same one the next day, removing some cat hair from the pants and hanging the holy shawl up high enough that the cats wouldn't be able to play with it. Then he checked if he still had a bottle with water near his bed and the last thing he needed to do was lay down, blow out the candle and sleep. Or not, he decided he should visit the bathroom before bed, nothing was more annoying to lay down to sleep only to realize that he couldn't fall asleep because of his bodily functions. 

“I'll be right back.”, he said to the cats and left the room, coming back right away after attending to his business and heading for his bed, finally being able to lay down. 

Laurence stopped in front of the bed when he saw that in the short time of his absence all four cats had splayed out on the bed, with Mary and Gary cuddling on the blankets, Will sitting at the foot of the bed and Mick curled in on the pillow. 

“Can't I even take a piss without you guys taking over my bed?”, Laurence complained, this not having been the first time that the cats had occupied his bed. He bent down and picked up Mick, who complained loudly about being so rudely woken up. 

“Yeah, it's your own fault for using my pillow as your sleeping place.”, Laurence growled, putting Mick on the ground and then grabbing his blankets, pulling at them, hoping that Mary and Gary would go away on their own, which luckily worked, the cats weren't too fond of being pulled around and jumped off the bed. Left only Will, but he was still sitting at the foot of the bed, seemingly unfazed by Laurence pulling the blankets, not moving an inch. However, he wasn't really in the way of Laurence laying down, so Laurence didn't do anything against Will and finally slipped under the blankets, pulling them over him and laying his head down on the pillow, closing his eyes, waiting for sleep to take over. 

Only a minute or so after he laid down, he could feel something warm pressing against his legs, assuming that it was Will who had decided to cuddle, the old cat often would keep his distance, but still searching physical contact. Not long after that, Laurence felt how another cat jumped on the bed and walked over it. As he raised his hand, the cat came to nuzzle into it and with the long fur he determined that it was Mary. Mary decided to use this opportunity to cuddle up right in his arm and even though her tail was tickling Laurence' hand a bit, it was far too adorable for him, so that he didn't chase her away. 

Shortly after Mary, a third cat jumped up and from the sensation of only three legs walking over his legs, Laurence knew it was Gary. The brown cat decided to lay down on Laurence' lap, already growing warm. The sensation of three warm cats cuddling up to him, made Laurence feel incredibly comfy and he already felt himself drift to sleep, when suddenly a fourth cat jumped on his bed and decided that the right place to lay down would be on his face. Which would have been kind of cute, if the animal wouldn't prevent him from being able to breath properly. 

“Mick, do you want to murder me?!”, Laurence shouted, shooting up, both Gary and Mary staring at him with wide eyes, making Laurence question if he forgot to blow out the candle, but it was only the light of a full moon shining in his room. 

The three cats he had woken up stared at him with a gaze that made Laurence feel guilty. Guilty for having woken them up, guilty for having disturbed them. “Wait.”, he said. “Why feel I guilty when you tried to choke me, Mick?” Laurence picked the black cat up and raised it in front of his face. “You are such a little bastard, Mick. I can only imagine how I would react when Micolash would stand in front of me with a pillow ready. That is your fault, because I always see his face when I look at you.” Laurence playfully shook the cat which complained with a strained meow. 

“Oh, it's alright, you little bastard, you nearly choked me, you can handle a little manhandling.” Laurence laid back down and closed both arms around Mick, applying gentle pressure on his back, to coax him into laying down. It worked and the cat splayed out on his chest, which still was a bit uncomfortable, but better than not being able to breathe. Gary and Mary also came back, Gary taking his spot on Laurence' lap again and Mary wanted to get under the blankets, which Laurence allowed and soon the fluffy cat was pressing against his side, he could feel her vibrate, indicating that she was purring. 

“Now, can we sleep?”, Laurence asked and cleared his mind, waiting for sleep to overtake him, which came sooner as he thought. 

Laurence was woken up by a loud crash and shot out of bed, eyes darting around at the source of the noise, was the church getting attacked? As he lighted a candle to get a better view of his room, he could see that his blood ministration equipment had been knocked over, some blood vials rolling on the ground, at least one of them broken. 

“Oh no, not the blood.”, Laurence was out of bed in an instance and hurried over, picking up the broken vial and trying to find a receptacle to fill the blood in, when he heard another crash and as he turned around, he could see how Mick, Mary and Gary all were hunting a moth, knocking everything down that came in their way. 

“You three!”, Laurence yelled. “Stop!”

He chased after the cats and just as he managed to grab both Mick and Mary, Gary did a beautiful jump and caught the moth mid air, happily munching on it, with Mick and Mary looking rather confused and searching for where their prey was. 

“Well, yes, that was impressive.”, Laurence said, eyes wide. It had been impressive, but he should be mad at the cats right now. One little insect and they trashed his room. 

“Now, that this is over, I hope we can sleep.”, Laurence said and sighed as he looked at his room. He should at least pick up everything up they knocked at over, he could clean tomorrow. Or let Florence clean, she would do it anyway without him asking. Laurence went to pick up his blood ministration equipment, removing all the remaining blood vials and putting them in a drawer as well as picked up every book that the cats had knocked down from his shelf. He would sort them tomorrow, for now he just stacked them on his shelf. At least asides the blood vial, the cats hadn't knocked down anything valuable, so Laurence spend a few more minutes picking up some items that they had knocked down before going bed to his bed to lay down. 

“You are the only one who is not making any ruckus, huh, Will?”, he said as he stroked the fur of the aged cat, a purr escaping its throat. Laurence flopped back down in his pillow and pulled the blanket up, expecting that the other three would come back to cuddle with him soon. 

Mary was the first to come and laid down on his chest, her tail wagging, tickling Laurence' nose. “Mary.. wag your tail elsewhere.”, Laurence groaned, pushing her slightly aside, so that her tail wouldn't hit his face anymore. Mary stared at him with wide eyes, but then folded her legs under her body and lowered her head, looking contempt. 

Laurence closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep, soon feeling how Gary and Mick came jumping on the bed, luckily this time Mick didn't try to murder him in his sleep. Just as Laurence almost had managed to drift back to sleep, he heard a loud scream and felt claws that gouged into his chest, despite blankets and pajamas being between him. He shot up in surprise and pain, only to see that Mick had Mary's tail tight in his mouth and the white cat had lain her ears flat, hissing towards Mick and as the small black cat failed to release her tail, the both of them broke out into a full blown fight, on Laurence' lap, who could feel every single movement of them. 

“Stop, STOP!”, Laurence yelled, but the cats didn't listen to him, even worse, Gary, who had first only watched the fight, got invested and joined it, so that now three cats were fighting on his bed. 

“Enough!”, Laurence hissed and clapped his hands, all cats staring at him at the sudden loud noise. “It's time for you to get out! I just want to sleep!” 

Laurence stood up and went over to his door, blocking the cat flap, before going back to his cats. Mary and Mick apparently were sensing what would happen, because both of them went into hiding, only Gary stood there dumbfounded. 

“Well, then you will be the first.”, Laurence said, grabbed Gary and banished the three legged cat on the floor. He found Mary in the shelf and Mick under the bed and even though they were defending themselves with all their might, earning him a few new scratches on his arm, he managed to catch them and they had to join Gary in banishment. 

Laurence then closed and locked the door, not trusting that any of his cats would learn how to open them and went back to bed, rubbing his wounds. “Ouch.”, he said, Will raising his head to stare at him. “Will, you are the only one who behaves. You are truly like that old geezer.” Laurence laid back down, thinking about maybe taking a blood vial to get rid of the claw marks, but for now he was too tired and it wasn't like anyone would see them under his clothes.

Laurence was finally ready to get some well deserved sleep, when he heard the noises. The first noises were a cat trying to use the blocked cat flap, hah, that would get them nowhere, but then it turned to them meowing. All three of them, singing a concert in the middle of the night, soon topping it off with scratching the door. Laurence groaned and turned around, pulling his pillow over his head, until he had enough and hurried over to open the door. 

“One more ruckus and I won't show any mercy anymore.”, he growled as the cats one by one came back into the room as if they had done nothing wrong. 

Laurence unblocked the cat flap and got back to his bed, laying down, just praying to the Great Ones that he would finally be able to get some sleep and to his surprise, he managed to drift off rather trouble-free. 

The next time Laurence awoke, it wasn't because of the cats, but it also wasn't because it was already morning, as he opened his eyes, it was still far too dark outside. After blinking away his sleepiness, he murmured: “Need the bathroom...” and attempted to get up, only to be met with a wave of pain in his back. 

As he still tried to process the sudden pain and why he felt so heavy and apparently couldn't get up, he noticed that both Gary and Mary had decided to cuddle up against each other and pretty much taking the half of the bed for them! That meant, that Laurence unknowingly had made room for them and was laying in a rather awkward angle, that absolutely destroyed his back. To make matters worse, Mick had decided to lay directly on his arms and the limb had decided to fall asleep and just now he felt this weird tingly sensation when the blood tried to rush back in. 

“Ugh, you are so small and can do so much damage.”, Laurence said, using his non sleeping arm to gently push Mick aside, who gave him a disdainful “mrrrm” and rubbed the arm until he could feel it again, then using both of them to pull his body up, gasping as the pain in his back hid him. 

It felt like a good minute had passed until Laurence had made it out of bed and just as he sat down his feet he had to realize that they felt like cotton too, because apparently, Will had slept on them and he fell down back on the bed. 

“Great.”, Laurence said to himself, as he waited for his feet to get their feeling back. “I just need a quick bathroom break in the night and because of you guys it's take thrice the amount of time as usual.” He glared down at Mary and Gary, who had their tails intertwined and looked oh, so cute. Wait a moment, he was angry at them! “Just be glad that I don't have the runs, or it would have gone messy.”, he snapped at them, Gary blinking at him sleepily and Mary starting to purr. 

Just as Laurence felt his feet again, Mick jumped in his lap and demanded cuddles. “Not now, Mick!”, Laurence groaned. “Let me go to the bathroom and then we can cuddle, alright?” 

Laurence removed Mick from his lap and he could swear the cat looked like he had just told it that it would never get any fish treats again. He got up and finally was able to stretch, hearing his back snap, flinching at the pain and rubbing the sore muscles as he made his way out of the room. 

“Have I really argued with cats?”, he mused on his way to the bathroom, wiping away some black hair that had settled on his pajama. 

Because no cat was with him, he finished his business in the bathroom without trouble and when he went back to his room, groaned a bit. His body hurt and stung all over, he remembered that scratches he had gotten earlier and now the cats pretty much had seized his bed. 

That turned out to be a problem as he stood in front of his bed and considered how he best could lay back down in it without disturbing the cats. Will, Mary and Gary had fallen asleep again and Mick's yellow eyes stared at him from his pillow. In fact, Mick fused together so well with the darkness from the night, that Laurence got a good scare at two yellow slit eyes staring at him. It looked like the void was staring right at him. 

“Hm...”, Laurence mused out aloud. “When I take the blankets and pull my feet under it first, I should be able to wiggle under them without waking Gary and Mary...” His eyes wandered down to the foot rest and he determined that Will, like the whole night, wasn't letting himself disturbed at all. 

Laurence sat down on the bed and carefully lifted the blankets, paying attention to not wake the cat couple as he slowly wiggled his feet under the blanket. It was slow, but it went better than expected and he stopped moving his feet, in once his toes could feel Will, who laid his head on Laurence' feet right away. 

“Alright, now I just need to lay down and be able to pull the blankets over me.”, Laurence continued his thoughts and carefully flopped back in the pillow, wondering why it suddenly felt so furry and warm and a second later he remembered that he had forgotten about he void on his pillow, as a painful streak appeared on his face and an offended black cat jumped on his night stand, judging him. 

“Come on, Mick. I am sorry.”, Laurence said, a hand over his cheek, seeing a few blood drops when he removed it. He sighed, that certainly meant he would take a blood vial first thing in the morning, he could live with some scratches on his arms, but not on his face, then everybody would ask him what happened and he had to tell the rather embarrassing truth. 

Mick continued to judge Laurence from the night stand and even Mary and Gary had their eyes open, staring at him, so that Laurence felt judged from three pairs of eyes. 

“If you wouldn't have seized my bed, that would have never happened.”, Laurence growled at the cats, but it left them unimpressed and they went right back to sleep. 

Laurence sighed another time and laid back down, pulling the blankets as high up as he could and then spread his arms and closed his eyes. “Hopefully there aren't any other disturbances this night.”, he murmured. 

The next time Laurence awoke wasn't on his own accord, but rather because he felt a soft force in his face and a certain noise next to him. He grumbled and turned around, he felt like he had barely any sleep, he didn't want to get up yet, but the force and the noise only got more intense. 

As his mind came back from the dream realm, Laurence realized that the sounds were meows, more precisely, the ones that indicated hunger and the force he felt in his face were paws, that luckily didn't use their claws, but still nudged him over and over again. 

“Oh come on, is it already time for your breakfast?”, Laurence said, pulling himself up yawning. It indeed was already starting to get bright outside, but when he looked at the clock in his room, he saw that it was 5 AM. 

“Come on!”, Laurence groaned. “You can't be already hungry, it isn't even six!” 

Laurence closed his eyes again and intended to get at least two hours more of sleep, but the cats apparently had other plans, because their meows got louder and louder and their nudging got more and more intense. Laurence turned around and hid his head under his pillow, trying to drown out any noses and prevent them from nudging, but to no avail. 

“Fine!”, he yelled, shooting up from the bed. “I will get you some food, but only if you leave me in peace after that!” 

Laurence got up and fetched the cat food from the drawer, preparing a bowl for any of the four cats, which eagerly ate their food, finally becoming quiet. 

Laurence shuffled back to his bed and laid back down, soon feeling that all three cats were joining him again. Wait, three, where was the fourth? Laurence shot up again as he heard the distinctive scrabbling in the litter box. He certainly had to clean that out before the smell could settle! 

Five minutes later, Laurence once again laid down in the bed, feeling both tired and wide awake at once. “You know what?”, he said after around ten minutes. “Why don't I stay awake?” 

When Florence a few hours later came into Laurence' room to ask him, if he slept well, she found him grooming Mary and he stared at her with dark bags under his eyes, muttering: “No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sure that every cat owner can relate to this chapter, because letting cats into your sleeping space? It's a mess. They are either super cute and fluffy, but most of the time they seize over your bed, make you lay in weird poses and get upset when you dare to accidentally lay on them. Oh, and of course they get food at 5 AM, if you ignore them, they very much know how to get their point through!
> 
> I have another idea for this fic, but I would love to hear my readers experiences with their own cats. You surely can give me some inspiration before I make another timejump to the next cat ^^


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the countdown. The ten seconds you have to save your carpet. Or your couch. Whatever. The important thing is, that cat has to get somewhere else!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies, but this chapter is a bit gross because it focuses on the habit of cats to puke out things, mostly hairballs. I swear, every cat owner will know the struggles in this chapter. I very much give an emetophobia warning, because there is some teasing vomit talk, but there is nothing too graphic. 
> 
> Also, the only reason I pumped this out already was that I received some [fanart](https://onlytheembersremain.tumblr.com/post/620021279039291392/a-little-fanart-for-mrslittletalls-bloodborne) made by onlytheembersremain for the last chapter!

“So, we expect your presence around-”, the church minister said, but Laurence interrupted him. 

“Hold that thought, I will be back in a few minutes.”, he rattled down and then was off, leaving a very confused church minister behind. 

The problem was, while the church minister had talked with him, Laurence had started to hear what he referred to as the “countdown”. It was a gurgling kind of sound and he swore, from the first time it was heard, he could count down from ten and when he was at zero it would be too late. Laurence considered himself lucky that he had heard it this time, because often enough he wasn't present when the countdown happened and was met with a wet and gross surprise. 

“I got yoooouuuu!”, Laurence shouted as he rounded the corner where Mary was about to finish the countdown and hurled the cat from the carpet, only for Mary to stop retching for a second, turning around and then finishing the countdown right on the carpet. 

“Oh, Mary, COME ON!”, Laurence yelled, barely believing that he had made it in time only for the wet and gross hair ball to land on the carpet anyway. Mary just looked at him as she licked her snout and gave him a mew. 

“Don't fucking mew me, Lady, you are in trouble.”, Laurence said, pointing down on her, narrowing his eyes. “But first... I have to clean up.” 

Grumbling, Laurence went down the corridor and mumbled to himself: “That church minister probably thought I had to run to the bathroom or something... I swear, they better not have any rumours about me having the runs or something similar...” 

Laurence stopped in front of a closet and got a bucket and a cleaning cloth out, stopped at the nearest bathroom to fill it with water and fetch a towel and then went back to where Mary had puked out her hairball, of course the cat wasn't present anymore, running away from her punishment. He kneeled down and wrapped the hairball into the towel. “Disgusting.”, he said as he felt the gross and warm thing. Hair balls didn't sound so bad on paper, but the fact that they were coated in hot stomach acid made them so much worse. Once the hairball was safely secured and on the side, he moistened the cleaning cloth and was just about to start scrubbing the carpet, when Florence' voice sounded. 

“Oh, Vicar, I heard that you got sick, but I had no idea that you didn't made it. Shouldn't you go lay down and take some blood and let me clean this up?”, she said. 

“Already?! Shit, Florence, I am not sick, it was Mary!”, Laurence yelled as he shot up, pointing at the towel, upset that the church minister already had interpreted him running away in the worst way possible. Had he given the expression that he needed to puke? He might have looked pretty shocked once he had heard the countdown and maybe had sweat a bit and maybe had been pale and... he pretty much had given the impression as if he had needed to puke. 

Laurence sighed and kneeled down again when Florence said: “The countdown?” 

“The countdown.”, Laurence confirmed and started to scrub the carpet, unsure if he would ever get the stain out of it. 

“But Vicar, you don't have to clean it up yourself, let me handle this.”, Florence said, already on her knees. 

“Didn't you had trouble with your back this month?”, Laurence asked, fully aware that his secretary wasn't the youngest anymore. 

“Oh, nothing what the healing blood can't fix.”, Florence waved aside with a smile. 

“Still, I know that you don't like to be overabundant on the blood.”, Laurence said. He personally couldn't get enough of the stuff, it may have turned into a slight problem, but he could stop anytime, he just didn't had a reason to. Florence on the other hand, was seeing the blood more as a medicine that should be used for emergencies as well as sicknesses and injuries that would had trouble healing on their own. Her bad back normally wouldn't be a reason for her to take the blood. 

“While this is true, what shall the church servants think when they see their Vicar sitting down scrubbing the carpet? That action is below your dignity, your grace.”, Florence said. 

“These are still my cats and I am responsible for them.”, Laurence said. “If anyone sees me like this, so shall it be. I am just taking responsibility for the mess they are making. I mean, it could be worse. At least it was only the carpet.” 

“Yes, I remember when Mary vomited all over the library books once.”, Florence said and Laurence groaned at the memory: “Don't even remind me of that. I spend fucking two hours apologizing to the librarian in charge while having to find puke anywhere and everywhere, in cracks and chinks where puke never should have travelled!” 

“I wonder why Mary is so susceptible to the countdown?”, Florence asked as Laurence squeezed out the cloth and made it wet anew. 

“It's her fur, I think.”, he said. “She cleans herself and swallows a lot of fur and that has to come out again. Granted, the other cats sometimes do the countdown too, but it is Mary in 90 % of the cases. At least with her I can be sure it is a hairball, Mick once found it funny to puke out a whole bowl of food because he had eaten too fast and Gary was puking out parts of a mouse he must have hunted. That was some fucking horror show to clean up...” Laurence wrinkled his nose at the memory. “When I took in cats, nobody warned me about the countdown.” 

“I heard it is different from cat to cat.”, Florence said. “I also heard that cat owners get used to it.” 

“I certainly got used to it by now.”, Laurence sighed, scrubbing on the stain., “But I still try to prevent the countdown from landing on my carpet whenever I hear it. Ugh, that feels like it already burned itself into the carpet. I wonder if this is how Gehrman felt whenever he had to clean up my vomit.” 

“That felt definitely worse.”, Gehrman said, making Laurence shot around, hissing: “What are _you_ doing here?!”

“Watching you being on vomit cleaning for once, quite entertaining.”, Gehrman grinned and then greeted Florence. 

“If you are already here, can you at least help me?”, Laurence complained, but Gehrman shook his head. Florence raised her brows because Laurence had declined her helping just five minutes earlier. 

“I think I had my fare share of helping you clean up vomit already during your regular stomach flus back in the school.”, Gehrman said. 

“He got sick easily, huh?”, Florence asked, eyes focused on Gehrman, clearly interested in what Laurence' old friend had to say. 

“That is an understatement.”, Gehrman grinned. “He would get a cold with a high fever every winter, we could bet on when it would happen. And sometimes he even got the cold outside of winter. And, like I said, often enough he got himself a stomach flu and had to spend the next few hours either hunched over the toilet or with a bucket. I got really good at reading the signs for when Laurence had to puke, but sometimes I came too late and then it meant cleaning time.” 

“So you had kind of a countdown of your own.”, Florence said. 

“Countdown?”, Gehrman asked. 

“That's what we call it when the cats are about to puke.”, Laurence said, an eye twitching in anger, “And I would cherish if you wouldn't go around and tell everyone about when and where I had to puke.” 

“First, I have only told Florence and second, I haven't even told her specifics. But I can, if you wish to hear, Florence.”, Gehrman had a glint in his eyes and Laurence shot up, almost shoving the dirty cleaning cloth in Gehrman's face, or more his chest, Laurence just was too small to reach Gehrman's face properly. 

“Don't you dare.”, he grumbled. 

“It looks like Laurence doesn't want us to have fun.”, Gehrman said, shrugging. “I am sorry, Florence, but at least I can answer your question. Yes, I indeed had a countdown when I realized that Laurence needed to hurl. It were usually five seconds and I swear I could never move faster than when it started.” 

“For the cats we have about ten seconds.”, Florence replied. “For some reason, they like to take their time with the countdown.” 

“And I still was too late.”, Laurence sighed and put the finish touch on his scrubbing. He had the feeling the carpet would be stained forever, but at least it wasn't obvious anymore. “There, that should do it. And don't try and clean it too, Florence.” 

“I haven't done anything.”, Florence said. 

“I can see that itch in your eyes.”, Laurence said, knowing what a clean freak his secretary could be. 

“I don't see what the problem of her cleaning it again is.”, Gehrman said. “Why were you even cleaning it up in the first place?” 

“Because the Vicar sees it as his responsibility.”, Florence replied. “Even though he asked you to help earlier and you declined.”

“Well, yeah, because I used to clean and am pretty good at it, it was just too amusing to see Laurence clean up for once.” Gehrman grinned. 

“Shut up, Gehrman. Why are you even here alone? Where is Maria?”, Laurence asked. 

“Oh, she is...”, Gehrman said when Maria came around the corner, carrying a cup with a steaming hot liquid and said: “Hey, Laurence, I brought you some chamomile tea for your upset stomach.” 

Laurence just stood there and tapped his food: “Florence, would you please go around and tell everyone in the church that I don't suffer from food poisoning?” 

“Understood.”, Florence said and gave Laurence a bow before she hurried down the hallway. 

“Oh, so you are fine? I heard that you hurried away in the middle of a conversation, so I thought that you got sick.”, Maria said. “Do you still want the tea?” 

“Yes, I would like the tea.”, Laurence said and took the cup from Maria, taking a sip. “It wasn't me who got sick, it was Mary. Hairball, you know.” 

“Ah yes, I have stepped in one of them once.”, Maria nodded. “Disgusting little things. Hard to think that it could come out of something as cute as a cat.” 

“The same could be said about Laurence' puke.”, Gehrman grinned which prompted Laurence to deliberately step on his foot, the one that was still there. 

“I think I am overstepping my boundaries.”, Gehrman grinned and backed away. 

“One more dumb saying and I am stepping on something else.”, Laurence warned and then his head jerked around as he heard it again. The countdown. 

“Fuck!”, he yelled and was off. Gehrman and Maria just glanced at each other. 

“Should we follow him?”, Maria asked. 

“Yes, I think we should.”, Gehrman said and soon the duo were on their friend's tail, ready to help him clean up whatever cat would finish the countdown yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One time Clara projectile vomited all over the keyboard of my husband. There wasn't even a countdown, it just happened. Clara managed to puke in so many hard to clean places, she surely is a pukey cat. She mostly pukes out whatever she ate and this cat is ALWAYS hungry, I don't get it. 
> 
> Geraldina is the classical hair ball puker, when she pukes you can be sure that it will be a hairbal 99 % of the time. Lately she likes to sit behind me on the couch, she is also sitting there right this moment.
> 
> Write me stories about your cats in the comments, maybe I take some inspiration for future chapters.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laurence gains a new cat, however, said cat doesn't come alone...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, this chapter got longer than intended. Please enjoy!

“She's pregnant. You will be blessed with a few kittens soon.” 

“Are you serious?”, Laurence asked as he accepted the cat back into his arms. She was white with black markings and because of her preference for upper cathedral ward, he had named her Julie, after the leader of the choir, Yuria. 

...He may have also named her Julie because one of her actions upon bringing her into the cathedral had been to beat up Mick. The black cat now was hissing and spitting every time he even saw Julie. 

“Absolutely serious.”, the veterinarian said. “She is already a few weeks in, she will get her kittens in about three more.” 

“Well then... that will be hard to explain to Florence.”, Laurence said, stroking Julie behind her left ear, which made her purr instantly. “I brought back one cat and now it turned out that it will multiply. How many kittens will she get?” 

“It's impossible to tell, we don't have a method to look into her body.”, the veterinarian said. “Cats usually can get one to three kittens or even more. It can be five or even eight, but judging by her belly, I think she won't get more than three.” 

“Three too many.”, Laurence said, sighing. “Send your invoice to the cathedral, my secretary will take care of it.” 

“As usual, Vicar.”, the veterinarian said. “Come back in two weeks with Julie so that I can check on her pregnancy and make sure to come after she gave birth and bring the kittens along.” 

“Will do.”, Laurence said, settled the cat in his arms and then left the veterinary office. 

“With whom did you have intercourse?”, Laurence asked the purring Julie in his arms on the way back. “Maybe I should have named you after me. Or not. I am infertile and can't make children. But I have Amelia, so that is totally fine.” 

Thinking about Amelia, the little girl would be thrilled to hear about the kittens. She was five years now and very very curious, as well as very very studious. Laurence always had to teach her how to read during their together time and she already was capable of reading simple children's books. She would be able to read just fine even before she got into school. 

Laurence was back at the cathedral soon and put Julie down. The cat shook itself, nervously licked her paw and then got up, trotting into the direction of upper cathedral ward. While Julie didn't had another care then to get her kittens into the world safely, Laurence had to confess this whole thing to Florence now. 

With a deep sigh, he went into the direction of his office, dragging his feet. Technically, she was his secretary, she didn't had any right to scold him, but Florence had such a motherly aura around her, that Laurence couldn't help but feel bad and guilty whenever she gave him that look. He already had four cats and a fifth cat may be a bit much, especially when said cat would beat up one of the cats that had already been there and while Laurence knew she was right, he hadn't brought it over him to let this cat just out there. She had been so cute when she first had let herself touched, putting her whole head into his palm, rubbing her scent over his hand and his sleeve. The moment she had settled in his lap to sleep, he had picked her up and took her with him. 

“Ah, Vicar, you are back.”, Florence greeted him with a smile, but it fell when she saw his darkened face. “Oh no, is something wrong with Julie?” 

“Nothing is wrong with her.”, Laurence said. “In fact, one could say, she is... expecting...” 

Upon hearing this, Florence crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Vicar...”, she said, voice low, “Did you know about this?”

“I swear, I didn't had a clue!”, Laurence quickly defended himself. “It was as surprised at you when the veterinarian told me earlier!” 

Florence sighed: “Oh, what shall we do with you and your love for cats? We need to make sure that Julie has a place to give birth and we need to make sure to find a good home for the kittens once they are old enough.” 

“...I can't keep them?”, Laurence said, half aware how much he sounded like a kid trying to argue with his mother instead of the Vicar of the Healing Church talking to his secretary. 

“You know I can't stop you if you want to keep them, but that could easily raise your cat count to ten!”, Florence half yelled. “We will find a good home for them, I promise. For now, let's learn a bit more about how cats prefer to give birth and prepare something for Julie.” 

“Makes sense.”, Laurence said. “I'll go get the books.” 

Half an hour later Laurence and Florence had absorbed all the information in the books. “It says that you should provide the cat a box in which she can give birth.”, Laurence said. 

“And put a blanket in it and over it.”, Florence added. “I should have some soft old blankets at home, I can bring them over tomorrow.” 

“I think Micolash has some wooden boxes. I'll ask him if I can borrow one.”, Laurence said, closing the book. “Florence, it is said that the box should be put at a spot where it is quiet and dark. See if you can find one.” 

“Very well, Vicar.”, Florence bowed and left his office. Laurence himself got up and went right to Micolash's room. After he knocked, the voice of his friend sounded, permitting him entry. As he turned around to see who came, Micolash's eyes widened. 

“Oh, Laurence, you haven't come over a lot lately.” 

“I am busy.”, Laurence said. “And lately you barely come out of your room for breakfast.” 

“...I oversleep a lot..”, Micolash said. Laurence had the feeling it was only the half truth. Micolash probably was staying up late into the night. Well, Laurence wasn't much better, but other than Micolash, he suffered from insomnia and often couldn't fell asleep at all. Micolash probably went into bed late and overslept breakfast time. 

“Why are you here?”, Micolash asked. “You look like you want something.” 

“Can you read me so well?”, Laurence grumbled. “I wanted to ask you for a wooden box. You should have several, right?”

“Yes, indeed.”, Micolash got up from his desk the same time Laurence came fully into the room and closed the door behind him. “For what do you need the box? How big shall it be?” 

“I have a new cat.”, Laurence said. 

“...So you need the box for the cat?”, Micolash asked. “Why? You already have brought back like... four cats and you never asked for a box for them.” 

“Let me finish.”, Laurence said. “The cat is expecting. She needs a box in which she can feel save to give birth.” 

“Oh, she will get younglings?”, Micolash's face softened. “They probably will turn out to be super cute.” 

“I never thought that you cherished cats.”, Laurence sat himself down on Micolash's bed. “So, can you give me a box that is big enough for a cat and her litter?” 

“Hey, I may not come out much, but I often play with your cats when I come back la... come back into the church.”, Micolash opened a cabinet and rummaged through it. 

Aha, there it was. He almost had said “late”. Laurence knew that he was roving around. He wondered where though. He knew that Micolash had established a school, called “School of Mensis”, but what where they doing late at night? Maybe he should check on Micolash more often...

“That box should suffice.”, Micolash said and brought out a wooden box that was certainly big enough to contain a cat and her litter, but not too big to not be carried. 

“Thanks Micolash, I'll give it back to you once it isn't needed anymore.” Laurence accepted the box from Micolash, surprised by its weight. After he secured his grip on it, he turned around, sighing when he noticed that the door was closed. Micolash came over to open it for him. 

“Thanks again.”, Laurence said, leaving the room and turning around another time. “We should talk more again.” 

“...Laurence... could you tell me when the kittens are born?”, Micolash asked. 

Laurence looked at him in confusion, but then smiled. “Of course.”, he said. “How about you show your face at dinner tonight for once? I have the feeling we need to catch up.” 

Micolash raised a hand to wave at him and Laurence brought the box back to his office, glad when it was over, because the weight wasn't sitting well with his arms or back. He was in the middle of massaging his back, murmuring: “Damn... I should have asked Gehrman for help.”, when Florence came in. 

“Ah, I see you acquired a box.”, she said, a smile on her face. 

“Yes and I wish I hadn't carried it on my own.”, Laurence grumbled. 

“Your back only hurts because you sit slumped over your desk all the time and never get up. If you would just get up once in a while to stretch, like I showed you...”

“I get up once in a while.”, Laurence defended himself, not intending to lose to his own secretary. 

“Yes, to hurry to the bathroom, which is another problem of it's own, because it is unhealthy to ho..”

“I got it, Florence!”, Laurence yelled before she could get out any details. Damn, she truly acted more like his mom than his secretary sometimes. 

“Excuse me. I got carried away.”, Florence took a deep breath. “I looked around and found a few good spots for the box, but I would advise to place the box in upper cathedral ward. Julie seems to feel the safest there and I assume that she would like to get her kitten there.” 

“Makes sense.”, Laurence said. “Once you brought the blankets over, let's put the box into place and introduce Julie to it.” 

At dinner this evening, Micolash really showed himself for once as well as Gehrman and Maria, who were preparing to get out for the night and wanted to get some blood vials. Laurence had to confess Julie's condition to them too and he felt very small when his friends gazes bore into him. How many cats did he plan to adopt? Could Gehrman ask the hunters if they wanted to take one of the kittens? Why did Laurence even decide to adopt a cat that was expecting? The questions didn't stop hailing on him and so Laurence was glad when he was done eating and could excuse himself to get the blood vials done. To his surprise, Micolash came into his office not much later, flopping down on the couch and cuddling with his namesake who had slept on there. 

“Do you remember that I always would distract you with cats back at the school?”, Micolash asked, rubbing the spot right between Mick's ear, which made a loud purr emerge from the cat. 

“How could I forget that?”, Laurence grumbled, carefully filling the diluted blood into a vial. Blood vials were more first aid, they would heal smaller wounds without trouble, but bigger wounds still needed a blood ministration. Still, they were able to cease bleeding and help hunters to hold through longer. Sadly, the blood needed to be diluted a bit for it to work fine. 

“It was fun.”, Micolash said, looking up at the ceiling, both of his hands resting on Mick's back, who had sprawled on Micolash's lap. “Every time I needed to get a head start, I just needed to bait the next best village cat and throw it at your direction. You would be distracted so long, cooing at it and petting it and giving it snacks.” 

“I always have loved cats and you knew it.”, Laurence said. “And besides, I still have beat you in a lot of exams, even when you used the cheap cat strategy.” 

“I know that you are a genius, Laurence.”, Micolash said. “But I also worked hard. I learned a lot. I needed to keep my grades or I would have send back...”, Micolash's gaze went back down at Mick and he rubbed circles into the cat's fur, making him purr up a storm. “A lot depended on it for me. Beating you, the top student, once in a while, really helped.” 

“...I know, Micolash. I am sorry I said that.”, Laurence said, his eyes fixated on the blood vials. “Besides, I loved every time you threw a cat my way. It always was making my day better.” 

“Now you even have cats every day.”, Micolash said. 

“Yes and I would consider myself happy.”, Laurence said. “If not for the beastly scourge. I hope we can get rid of it once and for all soon.” 

“You will find a solution, Laurence. You always find a solution.”, Micolash said, trailing down Mick's back and tail. 

Would he? Laurence very much hoped that he would. He surely wouldn't stop researching the scourge.

Though, he should take it easy the next few weeks and make sure that Julie could birth her kittens without trouble. 

The next morning Florence brought the blankets and once Laurence was done with his duties for the day, or more once Florence threatened to tell Gehrman about his unhealthy working habits, the both of them went to Upper Cathedral Ward to place the box. Florence lifted the box as if it was weighing nothing, leaving Laurence in awe. 

“Hey, I haven't raised three children to not be able to lift some weight.”, Florence simply replied to him. 

Florence had picked a dark corner in Upper Cathedral Ward, a place where not many people came by. Julie would surely feel secure in there. Once the box was placed, all that was left was introducing Julie to it. The cat was found in the little kitchen the choir used to hang out and Laurence managed to get into an argument with Choir Leader Yuria, he never had gotten along with her, even when they still had attended Byrgenwerth, and Florence had to separate them. Which was a good thing, Laurence probably would have lost the fight once it turned physical. 

As Laurence was carrying Julie to the box, all the way complaining to Florence about the ways Yuria had pranked him and how he had gotten back at her, the cat relaxed in his arm and seemed to grew heavier. That always happened when they relaxed. It was as if they suddenly decided that gravity should affect them. 

“Here we are, Julie.”, Laurence said and put the cat down in front of the wooden box. Julie approached the box and carefully sniffed it, then hopped in and sniffed some more at the blankets before starting to knead the blankets and make herself comfortable. 

“She seems to like it.”, Florence said. 

“Yes, that's a relief.”, Laurence said. “I wouldn't have wanted for her to get the kittens in my bed.” 

“Yes, that would make quite a mess.”, Florence sighed. 

“...a mess?”, Laurence asked. 

“Vicar, have you ever seen a birth?” 

Laurence shook his head. Of course not. He didn't have a partner and even if he had been married, she wouldn't be able to get pregnant from him. Gehrman and Maria had decided to not get children because they were hunters and he had adopted Amelia when she had already been a toddler, never having seen her leave the womb. 

“But you surely have read about it. Haven't you studied medicine?”, Florence asked. 

“Well, yes... but my focus wasn't helping with births. That is what midwives are for.”, Laurence said. 

“Well, then let me just tell you. It gets messy.”, Florence said. “That is why I opted to use old blankets, because these stains will never get out.” 

Laurence shuddered at the thought of stains. How many clothes had he ruined because of his untimely nosebleeds? He was truly lucky to have Florence. 

“Then I have to thank you, Florence.”, Laurence said. 

“Oh, it has been my pleasure.”, Florence smiled. “All that is left now is to take are of Julie and wait for the babies.” 

Taking care of a pregnant cat turned out easier than he thought. The most troublesome thing was when he told Amelia that Julie would get kittens, Amelia was overly curious just how kittens came to be growing and Laurence had to give her the “talk”. It probably had been the most awkward thing he ever had to do in his life, luckily Amelia was a sharp kid and got it without trouble the first time he explained it to her, only for him to get into trouble explaining why he couldn't get kids because of his infertility. He cheated out of that question by telling Amelia that he didn't had a wife and she was fine with his explanation. 

Micolash laughed his ass off when Laurence told him about that conversation the next day and once again asked Laurence if he was sure that Amelia wasn't his bastard daughter. Even though Laurence was infertile, there was a very slim chance that he could get a woman pregnant, but it was so slim that it was pretty non existent. However, it wasn't the first time he had asked himself that very same question. 

And so Julie got rounder and rounder. It looked comical when she walked, with her big belly almost scraping the ground, she even had trouble getting up and when Florence saw that, she laughed and told Laurence stories about her own pregnancy and that here husband had to help her up whenever she sat down, because it was impossible to get up on her own. 

The other cats were around, of course, but gladly they were taking consideration of Julie. Secret cat language maybe. She was left out of any fights the other cats had and wasn't even shooed away when she went to steal food. Even Mick wasn't hissing at her as much as usual. 

Then, one day, Julie wasn't there when Laurence prepared breakfast for the cats. Still sleepy, he counted them and only got to four. Huh, that was one too little. As soon as he woke up enough to realize what that meant, he practically flew to Upper Cathedral Ward, found the corner with the wooden box and when he carefully lifted the blanket that had been draped over it, he was greeted by the sight of a very exhausted looking Julie and three overly adorable kittens drinking from her chest, making little “mee mee” sounds.

Laurence felt like his heart would exploded and he clasped a hand over his mouth to not squeal at them. He didn't need to let Yuria know he was capable of such sounds. Two of the kittens had black and white spots, like their mother, but the third had a fur that looked like the colour of sand. It reminded him of Amelia's hair colour actually. 

Laurence slowly came nearer and lifted the tail of the kitten. A girl. He decided here and there that he would name her Amy. 

...Wait, hadn't he promised to give the kittens away? Damn, too late, he already had gotten attached. He checked the other two kittens and determined that they were little boys. He had to restrain himself from naming them too. They were so _cute_.

Laurence marvelled a bit longer over the sight of the kittens and then shot up. He remembered a passage of the book about cat pregnancy and Julie needed a meal to sustain her. After giving birth, she must be exhausted and now she had to feed three kittens! 

Laurence also remembered that Florence had told him that births were messy. The kittens looked perfectly fluffy and clean, but when his eyes fell on the blanket, he could certainly see that they were stained by a red colour. Probably the forewaters Florence had told him about. They should change the blankets in time. 

Laurence strolled away and when he came back, he had Florence in tow, who had seen him in the kitchen and had insisted on helping him prepare the food for Julie. She was the better cook anyway, so Laurence didn't had a say in it. 

“Oh, Vicar, they are so precious.”, Florence clapped her hands together as she saw the tiny kittens, huddling with each other for warmth. Their eyes were still closed, their ears were folded on their heads and they had no teeth, but they had a voice and they would use it. Laurence also loved the fact that their little paws were complete already, down to the beans. 

“I know.”, he said as he put the bowl down which Julie gratefully sat in front off and started to eat. “I named the blond one Amy.” 

“...Vicar...”, Florence said, giving Laurence a side glance. Oh fuck, he hadn't planned to spill that already. 

“Please, can't I keep her?”, Laurence said, sounding like a pleading kid. “Just her. She reminds me of Amelia.” 

Florence sighed and rubbed her temple: “You can do whatever you want, your grace. I am just here to tell you that I wouldn't advise to keep so many cats at one place.” 

Laurence balled his hands into fists and put them into the air, a silent “Yes.” in that gesture. Florence just stared at him, shrugged and then put her attention back to the kittens. 

“So how long do they need to stay with their mother?”, Laurence asked after a few minutes. 

“Twelve weeks are advised. They are still helpless like this, but they will grow quick. We will be able to see the progress soon.” 

Florence proved to be right, because over the next three months, the kittens seemed to grew daily. They first opened their eyes and their ears started to unfold, then they started to crawl and as soon as they were hitting four weeks, they could wobbly walk and were playing with each other, their mother's tail and every other toy they could find. Laurence even got used to put his shawl into his coat, even though it was the symbol of the Healing Church, just because whenever it would flutter on his back, one of the kittens would hang on it. 

Of course Laurence had shown the kittens to Micolash once they were born as promised. In fact, Micolash seemed to take a liking to them, because Laurence would often find him in front of the wooden box whenever he went checking on Julie and her babies. Laurence didn't even ask himself how Micolash had gotten a key for Upper Cathedral Ward. It probably had been himself who had given him one and he had forgotten about it. These meetings gave the friends good chances to catch up with each other, even though Micolash was rather... reserved sharing things about his research. 

Amelia had pestered him to see the kittens too, of course and Laurence had taken her after teaching her to not touch them without the mother's consent. His worries had been unfounded, because as usual, Amelia was following his instructions to a T and was overall well received by any cat she played with. 

Even Gehrman and Maria came to see the kittens. Gehrman just joked about that Laurence couldn't name any of the cats after him, because they had all their legs and Maria sat there and looked at the kittens with a longing stare. Maria often had been quiet lately. Laurence asked himself if everything was fine, but that was a job for Gehrman, he was her boyfriend after all. If Maria wanted his advice, she would have come to Laurence directly. 

Currently it was a completely ordinary day and Laurence brought Julie and her kittens the the usual bowl of food. The kittens were old enough to try something other than milk now, so he and Florence had worked together to cook up some liquid cat food, that could be eaten by both Julie and the little ones. Laurence got surprised though, when he saw Julie chilling in the box, but the kittens where nowhere to be found. 

“Where are your babies, Julie?”, Laurence asked. Julie didn't answer, only sleepily blinking at him. She probably was glad to have some peace and quiet for once, the little ones surely were a handful. 

“...I hope they haven't gotten hurt.”, Laurence murmured to himself, putting the bowl into the box and went off, searching. There were many places where three tiny kittens could hide themselves and he planned on checking them all. 

Unfortunately, Laurence couldn't find them anywhere and he even asked Yuria about their whereabouts. When he didn't get a clear answer of her, he stomped away and intended to ask Florence to help him search, when he ran into Micolash who was out of his room for once. 

“Ah, Laurence, I was looking for you.”, Micolash raised a hand in greeting. 

“I don't have time right now, the kittens are missing.”, Laurence said and just rushed past Micolash. 

“That is why you should stop and talk with me.”, Micolash said. Laurence stopped and he could have sworn, if not for the carpet in the hallway, the way he suddenly stopped would have made a screeching sound, and looked at Micolash. 

“Have you seen them?”, he yelled at his friend. 

“Actually...”, Micolash said, smiling. “Just look.” 

Laurence looked, confused about what Micolash had implied, but he knew once the first kitten popped its head out of Micolash's pocket and mewed. It's brother and Amy soon joined. It looked adorable and once again Laurence clasped a hand over his mouth to not squeal. 

“I have found these little trouble makers trying to climb the stairs. I have picked them up and before I knew it, they had crawled in my pockets. They seem to feel safe in there. I have searched for you so that I could tell you.” 

“Micolash..”, Laurence said with clenched teeth and then gave up, if the whole church would hear him squealing, it should be. “That is the most adorable thing I have ever seen!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so the last scene actually got inspired by some fanart, that you can find [here.](https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/619787395025567744/demonjunk-x-micolash-rhymes-with-kitten-stash) Please support the artist. 
> 
> As usual, if you have cute stories about your pets, especially cats, inspire me with them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It has snowed in Yharnam and Laurence promised Amelia to play with her on his day off. Micolash, Florence and some of the cats join them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is just pure and utter fluff, even when some darker things are picked up on in the first half. It was very fun to write and I hope that I do Amelia justice, which once again was written with the way my four year old nephew talks in mind.

“Laurence! Come on, get up! Let's play!” 

Laurence cracked an eye open to see the expectant face of Amelia staring at him. 

“Amelia, dear... It's my day off today... Can't you let me sleep a little longer...?”, he murmured, snuggling into his blankets, closing his eyes again. He was warm and cozy and wasn't ready to face the winter cold yet. 

“But it has snowed! Let's go play outside!”, Amelia's excited voice sounded. 

Laurence twitched under the blankets. There was snow outside...? That killed the little mood he had gathered to actually get up. “As if I would get up and get out into the fu... freaking snow.”, he said, eyes still closed. That had been close, he tried to not swear too much around Amelia. Florence said that it would be better if she didn't turn out as such a potty mouth as he was. 

“Come oooon!”, Amelia got his sleeve between her fingers and started to pull. “You promised...” 

At the sound of her disappointed voice, Laurence cracked his eyes open again to be faced by a truly heart broken face, close to fell into tears. 

“Fiiiine.”, Laurence said, pushing himself up. “Give me ten minutes, I need to get some warm clothes.” 

“Yay!”, Amelia cheered, the sad face instantly replaced by pure joy and she ran out of his room, hopefully getting some warm clothes for herself. Laurence blinked a few times once she was gone and stretched, getting the sleepiness out of his bones. “Morning Mick and Mary.”, he said, as he realized that both of them had cuddled up against him. “I am afraid you have to get down now or Amelia will get upset.” 

He gently set the cats aside, which looked at him with an offended stare before hopping down and grooming themselves. He just hoped that Mary wouldn't have to spit up a hairball before he left. 

Laurence went to the bathroom, changed into his usual church garb and then searched his room for warm clothes, like a winter coat, boots, gloves, a knitted cap and a woolen scarf. He also found some warm socks, pretty sure that they had been a winter solstice gift from Gehrman, who one day had had enough about him complaining about having cold feet all the time. 

...He actually hadn't talked a lot with Gehrman lately. Since Maria had quit hunting and spent all her time in the Research Hall, he had turned into some kind of recluse, rarely coming out of the workshop anymore. Laurence actually missed Gehrman. He hoped that he would get over his breakup with Maria one day and they could turn back to their usual bickering. 

After Laurence had put on all the clothes he had found, hiding half his face under the scarf, probably looking ridiculous as bundled up as he was, he went to the main entrance of the cathedral. He didn't even had breakfast yet, well, that could wait until Amelia was satisfied. He probably would be more aching for a hot bath after being out in the cold anyway, it didn't bother him when he skipped a meal or two. Florence of course always scolded him for it, saying that he already was underweight and should take better care of himself. 

Gehrman had always said the same thing... Stop, he needed to stop thinking about him. He should just go visit him and talk if he missed him. He just had so much to do lately, that he barely managed to get out of the church and on the rare off days, like today, he was either too exhausted to do much or Amelia requested his time. 

Laurence made a mental note to go talk to Gehrman the next time he would manage to get a day off. 

Once he arrived at the main door, he saw Florence and Amelia standing there, the little girl properly bundled up and, to his surprise, Micolash. Also present were Julie and Amy, her daughter that he got to keep. He only realized that both Mick and Mary had followed him when Julie and Mick started to hiss at each other. 

“Stop.”, Laurence scolded his cat, shoving two gloved hands in front of their foreheads before they could indulge into a fight. They only stopped once Mick decided to crawl into his arms and press himself against Laurence. With a sigh, Laurence picked him up and then said: “Good morning.” 

“Good morning, Vicar.”, Florence smiled at him. 

“Morning.”, Micolash just said and from the smirk on his face Laurence knew that he was amused about how bundled up he was. 

“Shut up. You know that I loathe the cold.”, Laurence hissed, the arm, that wasn't cradling Mick, stemmed into his hips. 

“I haven't said anything.”, Micolash said. 

“I have seen your da..., your smirk.”, Laurence growled, but his attempt at cutting out his cursing only made Micolash chuckle. 

“Working on that potty mouth of yours?”, he grinned. 

“Potty mouth...? Has Laurence said a bad word?”, Amelia piped up and looked at Micolash with big eyes. 

“Oh dear.”, Florence said and kneeled down to Amelia, talking in a soft voice to her, all while giving glances to Laurence, that he better should restrict himself. Laurence just sighed, looking down at Julie. She still had hear ears flat and was glaring at Mick while Mary had taken it on herself to groom Amy, which very much enjoyed the care and was audibly purring.

Once Florence was done talking with Amelia, the little girl came running over to Laurence and took his hand. “Let's play outside.” 

“What do you want to play?”, Laurence asked, letting himself guide by Amelia, cradling Mick so that the cat could get comfortable by laying over his shoulder. 

“Snowball fight!”, Amelia shouted, in that excited voice that only little kids mustered. Laurence sighed, of course, the coldest game of them all. 

“That brings me back to Byrgenwerth.”, Micolash said. “Remember when we went out to shovel the snow and then had a snowball fight?” 

“Yes... and then Gehrman joined and it got painful...”, Laurence said, remembering that he got a bloody nose. 

“And then we locked ourselves out because someone forgot to take the keys.”, Micolash said. 

“Don't remind me of that detail.”, Laurence said, one hand in front of his face. It had been rather uncomfortable having to wait out in the snow until Master Willem had woken up and let them back in. He had felt like an icicle back then. 

“You always talk about that school! Will I go there one day too?”, Amelia asked, looking up at Laurence. 

“Probably not...”, Laurence said. He and Master Willem very much did had a falling out. He wasn't expecting that Willem would be willing to teach his mentee and also... he didn't want for her to get to Byrgenwerth. They were clearly anti blood and he was the head of the biggest institution distributing and researching that blood. Amelia just made a humming noise and didn't ask more about the subject. 

Once they had stepped outside, Laurence noticed that the snow was high enough to get up to his ankle. He was rather glad that he had put on such thick boots. “Do you want to come out too?”, he asked Mick, who seemed to have fallen half asleep in his arms. Laurence wondered if he would be even able to form a snowball when he was busy cradling a cat. 

Mick didn't react, but Julie and Amy, who had followed the group, stopped once they saw the snow. Right, it must have been their first time seeing snow, both of them were still young. According to his veterinarian Julie had gotten pregnant as soon as she had been in heat. 

Both of them sniffed the snow and then Amy extended a paw to touch it, quickly retracting it and shaking it. Laurence had to chuckle at this sight, as well as Florence and he even saw Micolash flash a smile. 

“Aw, how cute!”, Amelia said, gaze completely on the cats. “They think it's cold!” 

“They are more confused about why it is cold.”, Laurence said, watching as Mary just jumped over the two scaredy cats (literally) and pretty much blended in with the snow. The only indicator she was still there were her two blue eyes, which fixated on both Julie and Amy in a kind of look that felt like she was mocking them. 

Apparently, Julie fell for the taunt, because she jumped into the snow and shook her paw every time she made a step. 

“It won't stop being cold, will you do this each step now?”, Laurence asked, all while Amelia giggled at the amusing sight. In the meantime, Florence had picked up Amy and cradled her into her arms, the blond cat staring wide eyed at the snow at the ground. 

“I should put Mick down before we go further.”, Laurence said and lowered the black cat to the ground, which jumped several feet into the air once it got hit with the coldness of the snow, which only fuelled Amelia's giggling fit. 

Mick stared at Laurence with a betrayed look and then ran back inside, shaking his hind legs and sitting down, frantically grooming himself. 

“Let's close the door.”, Laurence said to Micolash and the both of them shut the big doors and then turned around to go down the stairs that would lead to the church cemetery. Laurence took Amelia's hand again and Florence followed them with Amy in arms. Laurence couldn't see Julie and Mary anywhere near anymore, but he was sure they had fun somewhere. 

“Careful, it's slippery here.”, Micolash said with a glance to Laurence as they descended the stairs. 

“For the record, that I fell on the frozen lake and broke my wrist was entirely your fault.”, he said. 

“That sounds like it had been painful.”, Florence was intervening from behind. 

“It was painful.”, Laurence sighed. “That was before the Healing Blood, so it had to heal the old fashioned way. Micolash, why do you remind me of so many uncomfortable memories today?” 

“Nostalgia, I guess...”, Micolash said. “It's a pity that Gehrman isn't here with us...” 

“...I don't want to think about him right now.”, Laurence said, wondering if he should just tell Micolash to go back in. He was really adamant about bringing bad feelings to the front of his mind. 

“Why aren't uncle Gehrman and auntie Maria coming?”, Amelia asked, startling Laurence, who hadn't expected such a question, just the innocent question of a child, but a painful one for him. 

“Um, well...”, he started, searching for words. He could hardly tell a child as young as Amelia what Maria had accused him of, that she had quit her job as a huntress because she felt like they were the monsters and that she now looked after a failed experiment in the Research Hall while Gehrman was heart broken by Maria breaking up with him, because he still stuck to hunting. 

“We had kind of a big fight.”, he finally said. 

“So why don't you say sorry?”, Amelia asked, her eyes big and round as she stared up at Laurence. “When I and Yurie fight, we always have to say sorry to each other and then we can play again.” 

“It's complicated.”, Laurence sighed. “I still need to talk with Gehrman, I simply didn't had time. He probably will come the next time, but for now, we have to be content with Micolash.” He snickered at the last line. 

“Hey.”, Micolash said. “I heard that.” 

Amelia just took a glance at Micolash and then said: “Hmm... alright.”

“Hey!”, Micolash said again, this time a little louder. Laurence heard Florence chuckle and then fall back a bit to talk with Micolash. It was the perfect opportunity for Amelia to start bombarding Laurence with questions about the snow and once they had arrived at the end of the stairs, he was sure he had told her everything about snow that he knew and she still wasn't satisfied, so he started making stuff up and was half delighted and half feeling guilty when she bought it. 

“So when snow is like a big blanket of sugar, does it taste sweet?”, Amelia asked. 

“No, don't eat the snow.”, Laurence quickly said, asking himself why he had compared it with sugar. 

“Especially not the yellow one.”, Micolash added. 

“Micolash!”, Laurence complained, though... he was right. “Well, he is right. Stay away from the yellow one.” 

Amelia was halfway through her why question, which would have put Laurence into the incredible uncomfortable position to explain just what the yellow snow was, when there was a flash and some snow swirled up. When he took a closer look, he saw that it were Julie and Mary, which were playing a game of catch. 

“Ah, there are the cats.”, he said, stopping and watching them a bit. Next to him he noticed that Amelia squirmed.

“Laurence, I want to play with them!”, she said. 

“Alright, alright...”, Laurence sighed. “But remember, be gentle with them. When you catch one, let it go right away.” 

“Yeees.”, Amelia said and was off once he released her hand. Micolash and Florence stopped and stood next to him, also watching Amelia chasing the cats, giggling and getting up whenever she fell into the snow, dusting herself off and running again. 

“She will need a hot bath later.”, Laurence said and when a chilly wind hit him, he hugged himself and murmured. “And I will need one too...” 

“Then you can just get into the bath with her.”, Micolash said. “Will probably make it easier to give her a wash too.” 

“Are you kidding, Micolash? She is at that age where she asks endless questions. I have given her the talk, but I am not ready to give her the details yet.”, Laurence sighed. With the way Florence grinned next to him, Laurence had the assumption that she knew exactly what he was talking about. 

“You can leave Amelia to me while you take your own bath.”, she said, adjusting Amy in her arms. The blond cat was staring at Julie and Mary's (and Amelia's) game and started to twitch. 

“Let her go, Florence, I think she wants to join.”, Laurence said and Florence opened her arms, with Amy jumping out, shaking her whole body when she landed in the snow and then exploring the snow, completely forgetting about the game she had wanted to join. 

“It's so cute.”, Micolash said, gaze on Amy. “She isn't that tiny anymore, but still cute.” 

“By the way, how is the kitten that you wanted to give to your friend?”, Laurence asked. Of course he hadn't been able to keep all the kittens. They had been given to various people in Yharnam. 

“Oh, it's totally fine. He has grown considerably and always gets into the way when I visit Damian for our research.”, Micolash said. “He also is a master of hiding, how often have we searched for him only to find him in one of the most obscure places ever.” 

“Sounds like he is fine.”, Laurence said, feeling reassured. He still worried about the kittens he had to give away. For a while it had been normal for the little ones to run free in the church and he still missed that image. 

The three of them chatted a little bit more until Amelia came running back, panting. “I couldn't... catch them.”, she said. Her face was flushed, but she looked happy. Florence got out a handkerchief and wiped her face. “If you run around sweating like this in that weather, you will get a cold.”, she scolded Amelia. 

“We have the blood for that.”, Laurence said. “Even if she gets sick, she will be good as new after a ministration.” 

“That doesn't mean that you shouldn't try and prevent her getting sick, Vicar.”, Florence said. Well, she got Laurence with this. She was the more experienced parent after all. With how Laurence felt treated a bit like a son by her, he assumed that Amelia was something like her granddaughter. The girl endured the treatment and once she had caught her breath, she piped up: “Let's make our snowball fight!” 

Laurence had hoped that she had forgotten about this when she had went off to play with the cats, but of course her energy knew no bounds. 

“We are four.”, Micolash said. “So shall we play two versus two?” 

“I want to be in one team with Laurence!”, Amelia yelled. 

“Then me and Florence make the other team.”, Micolash said and stepped next to her. 

Laurence took Amelia's hand and looked at the cemetery. “You take the left half and we the right?”, he suggested. 

“...Wait, Vicar, should we really play on the cemetery?”, Florence asked, worry in her face. “What if someone gets upset?”

“Florence, please.”, Laurence said. “I am the Vicar, this is my church and I can do what I want wherever I fucking want.” 

There was an audible gasp and once Laurence had stopped speaking he knew he had fucked up. “Laurence said a bad word.”, Amelia piped up. 

“He also was the worst role model ever.”, Micolash grinned, all while Florence' jaw still was dropped down. Laurence better prepared for her rant, which happened not a minute later and once she was done with him, they finally were able to start their game, with Laurence taking Amelia to the right side of the cemetery and Florence and Micolash taking the left. 

Laurence was just in the progress of showing Amelia a good way to form a snowball, cursing that the cold snow already made his finger stiff, even with the thick gloves he was wearing, when Amy jumped up on a tombstone next to them. “Oh, hey Amy.”, Laurence said and watched when Amelia approached the cat and gave her a pat on the head once Amy allowed her. He was kind of proud that Amelia still remembered the lessons he had given her when he first had introduced his cats to her. 

“Will Amy join the snowball fight?”, Amelia asked and Laurence shook his head with a slight chuckle. 

“No, she is too small.”, he said. “She can feel free to watch though. She seems to be interested in the snowballs.” With that, Laurence offered one of the finished snowballs to Amy, who sniffed it and quickly flinched when her nose was met with the cold. Laurence found this to be kind of amusing, because cat noses normally were a very cold matter and had shocked him awake on more than one occasion. It felt good seeing them getting a taste of their own medicine. 

As Laurence continued to roll snowballs, hoping that his hands wouldn't turn into ice blocks, he spoke to Amelia: “And you have to make sure that there are no stones or other solid materials in the snowballs, if you hit someone with it, they could get seriously hurt.” 

“Don't we have the blood for that?”, Amelia asked. 

“Of course, but prevention is better. It still hurts and we don't want to have to interrupt the game because someone is bleeding.”, he said, aware that he sounded a lot like Florence earlier, when they had talked about getting colds. 

“Alriiight.”, Amelia said, stretching her words in that typical way for little children. Once they had enough snowballs ready, Laurence gave Florence and Micolash a sign and their game started. 

None of them were exactly good at aiming, so a lot of the snowballs never hit their mark and of course both Florence and Micolash made sure to not aim on Amelia too much, which unfortunately meant for Laurence, that he was the main target. While not a lot of the snowball hits, he still got hit by a good amount and the cold water started to seep through his coat and make him shiver. 

“You are doing this on purpose!”, Laurence growled at Micolash after the third snowball had hit him in a row (suddenly Micolash could aim, had he drank aiming water or something in the meantime?) and Micolash just laughed and swirled around, with his cape dramatically fluttering in the air when he retreated to get his next snowball, leaving his back perfectly exposed. 

Laurence, snowball in hand, grinned, aimed, threw it and... instead of hearing Micolash shriek by the surprise attack, he heard an offended meow and a bundle of fur fell from the air into the snow. 

“Oh no, Mary!”, Laurence gasped, running over to the cat, that had chosen possible the worst time to jump in front of Micolash. It had been even a bigger coincidence that Laurence actually had hit it. Mary was sitting abashed in the snow, looking rather miserable. Laurence was at her side with a few steps and picked her up. “Are you alright?”, he asked. “Mary, I am so sorry.” 

Amelia stepped next to him and looked at Mary with worried eyes: “Is she having an ouchie?”

“Hopefully not.”, Laurence replied, running his fingers through Mary's fur. He couldn't spot any wounds, but she still had fallen down in a rather uncomfortable manner. Both Florence and Micolash also stepped next to him. 

“Everything alright?”, Florence asked. 

“Do we need to stop the game?”, Micolash added. 

“I can't see any blood...”, Laurence said and then put Mary on the ground. “But I need to know if she got hurt. Let's see how she walks.” 

Mary looked at Laurence with wide eyes and then took a few steps to press against his legs. No limping, no flinching. She seemed to have gotten away with a little shock. 

“Phew, she seems to be alright.”, Laurence said, gave Mary a stroke through her fur and got up. “It seems like we can continue the game.” 

“And don't hit any more cats, Laurence.”, Micolash grinned. 

“That snowball was supposed to hit you.”, Laurence grumbled and once Micolash fell into a giggling fit Laurence was already chasing after his friend with another snowball. 

Their game continued for a good while, at one point they gave up on the teams and just chased whoever, especially when Amelia decided to gang up with the others on Laurence. Laurence didn't knew how long they had been out there, but at one point he was a panting, shivering mess and literally couldn't talk without his teeth chattering. Both Micolash and Florence looked rather frozen too and even the ever energetic Amelia voiced her desire for some hot chocolate. 

“I think we have played long enough.”, Florence said. “We should get in now and warm ourselves up.” 

“With hot chocolate?”, Amelia asked in an excited tone. 

“O-only after y-you t-took a hot b-bath.”, Laurence said, hating how much his voice trembled. He hated how susceptible he was to the cold. 

“I will take care of her, Vicar.”, Florence said, taking Amelia's hand. “You very much need a hot bath of your own.” 

“Th-thank you.”, Laurence said, hugging himself in an attempt to get a bit warmer. At least they would be back into the warm cathedral soon. 

As they walked back up the stairs, he heard a few mews behind him and when he turned around, he saw Mary, Amy and Julie following them back. 

He hoped that the three cats, who were all wet and shivered a bit on their own, would be able to groom themselves dry on their own, because he really didn't feel like giving all of them a bath. 

That would just have been the icing on the cake after he had been forced to be out in the cold for so long. 

However, when he looked at Amelia's smiling face and heard her chattering to Florence, he decided that it had been worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you come at my throat, reminder that Laurence and Amelia have a father & daughter relationship and while he has given her the talk thanks to Julie having kittens, he of course didn't want to spill the juicy details to a five year old. 
> 
> Cats in the snow are so cute ^^ Sadly, it rarely snows at my place anymore, I would like to take them out in the snow, but the climate gets warmer and warmer. Along with us living in a rather warm place in Germany, snow rarely happens. 
> 
> Do you have any pet stories that you want to share with me? Please do in the comments, they are great inspiration for more chapters.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the cold snowball fight, Laurence wants to warm up in a hot bath, but maybe he should have locked the cats out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I actually wanted to do another time jump in this chapter, but got inspired to a chapter with cats in the bathroom, so that is what you get instead ^^

Laurence would have liked to jump into the bath tub right away, but the water first had to be heated up, so he was sitting in the common room with Micolash and Amelia, Mick curled up on his lap and a hot cup of tea in his hands, most of his winter clothes still present on his body. Even with all the running around, the cold wind and snow had chilled him to the bone and he sat there, shivering now and then. He hoped that he wouldn't get a cold. 

Amelia sat next to him with a cup of hot chocolate, all while she excitedly recounted the events of the last few hours. Both Laurence and Micolash, utterly exhausted, just smiled and nodded to her, occasionally giving her a hum or similar noise of agreement. 

“Do I have to take a bath?”, Amelia suddenly asked and wrinkled her nose. Apparently, she wasn't too keen on it. 

“Y-yes.”, Laurence said, hating how his voice still trembled. “Or you m-might get a c-cold.” 

“But we have the blood.”, Amelia squealed and Micolash had to do his best to suppress his laughter, getting a death glare from Laurence for it. 

“Yes, b-but you are f-five.”, Laurence said. “I d-don't want to use the b-blood on ch-children when it can be a-avoided.” 

“Hm.”, Amelia pouted and took a deep sip of her hot chocolate, leaving her with a milksop. Laurence absentmindedly got a handkerchief out to wipe it off, the little girl squirming under his care. 

“M-make sure to use the b-bathroom before you g-get into the bath.”, Laurence said after a glance to the almost emptied cup. 

“But I have already been!”, Amelia said, how she could still hold such a volume after cavorting so much in the snow, Laurence didn't had a clue. “You came with me even!” 

“Y-yes... but you c-can't just leave once you are in the w-water.”, Laurence said. 

“I don't have to.”, Amelia simply answered and now Micolash couldn't suppress his laughter anymore and flopped over on the couch while Laurence gasped and told Amelia about basic decency and hygiene, which she took in with a rather disinterested look.

Just as Micolash's laughing fit had ceased, the door opened and Florence peeked her head in: “Vicar, the water is now ready. You can move to the bathroom. I will be taking Amelia.” 

“Th-thank you.”, Laurence said, finished his cup of tea and put it onto the table. He then gave Mick a stroke and stood up while cradling the cat into his arms. Micolash stepped in front of him and took Mick. The cat gleefully pressed himself into Micolash's arm crook. 

The church normally had bathrooms with showers where several people could clean themselves up, but for high ranking officials like Laurence, they had build in some more luxury bathrooms, which only could be assessed with a key. The one Laurence was using, housed a basin, a single toilet and a bath tub, which was linked to the boiler, so that it was able to spew out hot water. It only needed to be filled, so Laurence turned the handle and sat down on the toilet, waiting for the bathtub to be filled. 

While Laurence waited for the bath tub to be filled, he considered if he should maybe make use of the toilet quick before hopping in, especially after he had told Amelia to do the same. It couldn't hurt, so he got up, but before he could lift the lid, he noticed that he had the door to the bathroom still ajar. 

He definitely should close this first, before anyone came barging in, seeing him in a rather uncomfortable situation. Laurence went over to close the door, only to nearly get it smashed into his face, when something fast and small barged into the bathroom. When he opened his eyes, he looked for the reason of the commotion and his eyes fell on Gary, who had apparently hunted a mouse, which laid in front of him, looking rather dead. He nudged it with his paw now and then and when it didn't move, started to rip chunks of flesh out. 

“Gary, that's gross.”, Laurence said and went nearer to the cat. “Out. I am going to take a bath and I can't use a cat in here.” Laurence bend down to pick the mouse up, with the intent of throwing it out, so that Gary would run after it, but the cat let out a deep growl and dragged the mouse away, until he was in a deep dark corner of the room. 

“Fine, but don't complain when you want out.”, Laurence sighed and went to close and lock the bathroom door to finally use the toilet. Once he was done, he rushed over to the bath tub to turn the water off, because Gary's interruption had made him lose track of how much it already had been filled up. 

Laurence went over to a shelf to get a towel, all of them seemed to be whiter than white, he wondered who had been in charge of the laundry and why they had so many white towels, when the Healing Church would handle blood daily and picked one up, wondering why it was so fluffy and warm and why it meowed. His eyes widened when he noticed that it certainly wasn't a towel he was holding, but Mary. 

“When, how?”, Laurence stuttered. “Don't tell me you snuck in when Gary was chasing the mouse?!” 

Mary mewed and Laurence put her down with a sigh. Sure, he could have just unlocked the door and set Mary in front of it, but one cat was already in the room and a second didn't make too much difference. Also, if he opened the door, maybe another cat would rush in. Why had he decided to take in six cats again? 

Laurence laid the towel on the toilet and undressed himself, putting each and every piece on a nearby cloth rack. Once he was fully undressed, the cool winter air, even inside, making him shiver even more, he went into the bath. For most people it would have been too hot, but for him it was perfect. Maria always shook her head at how easily he could withstand hot water, drinking scalding hot tea and getting into a super hot bath tub and he wasn't even burning himself. Laurence just brushed it off at liking the heat more than the cold. 

He never even thought that maybe the old blood could have been the cause for it. 

The hot water engulfed Laurence and he could feel how the chill in his bones started to vanish, getting replaced with a comforting warmth. Laurence sighed and closed his eyes, he would have loved to just sleep in here, when it wouldn't mean that he was in danger of drowning. 

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Mary peeking over the edge of the bath tub. 

“Mary, no.”, Laurence sighed. “You don't want to be here. It's wet and gross.” 

Mary simply blinked at him twice and lashed her tail. With another sigh, Laurence reached for a bar of soap. He looked at Mary again and then aimed the soap to slightly miss her, he only wanted to scare her off (and he would have never forgiven himself if he had actually hit her). Of course his non existent throwing skills made the soap fly far past Mary and it landed on the floor with a thud. Mary's tail twitched and she turned her head to look at the sound, but ultimately clambered onto the edge of the bath tub. 

“Mary...”, Laurence started and then sank back into the water. “Well, just be careful.” 

The bath tub didn't had the widest edge, but for Mary it seemed to be wide enough to comfortably walk on there. Though, it also was slippery and wet. Laurence just hoped that Mary would not fall into the bath tub, he gave up on trying to scare her away in fear that she would fall into the water as result, so he observed Mary with eagle eyes, taking away the relaxation he had felt earlier. His whole body tensed up and he actually had to massage his neck and shoulder after a few minutes, taking his eyes off Mary, who had clambered about the bath tub the whole time. 

This few seconds of inadvertence apparently had been enough, because when Laurence put his eyes back on Mary, the cat had, for reasons only she alone knew, sat down on the edge of the bath tub and Laurence could only watch when the tragedy unfolded right in front of his eyes. 

The world seemed to move in slow motion when he saw how Mary's back paws slipped, he felt how he extended his arms in an attempt to catch her, knowing that she was too far away, watched as Mary's hind legs submerged into the water, as her front paws desperately clawed at the smooth edge, not giving her any footing and watched as the whole cat fell into the bath tub with a splash. 

As Laurence already was kneeling into the bath tub, searching for Mary in the water, the cat seemed to ignore all physic's and pretty much jumped out of the water, dripping wet, her normally puffy coat reduced to soaking strands and she skidded over the bathroom floor, running into the shelf with the towels, a towel dropped on her and made the poor cat panic even more. 

“Oh _fuck_.”, Laurence hissed. That was why he didn't want to have the cats in the bathroom. He raised from his kneeled position and grabbed for the towel on the toilet, only binding it around his hips (not that anyone would see him, but he still wanted to stay modest). He then exited the bath tub, shivering a bit when the cold air hit his still wet body and searched for the mess that was Mary. He found her behind the toilet, apparently having shooed away Gary, trembling under the towel. Laurence squatted down and extended a hand at her. 

“Mary, w-would you p-please come out? I then c-an get the intruding t-towel of you and d-dry you up.”, he said in the most calm voice he could muster, hating that he he started to stutter again from the cold. 

Mary's response was to hiss at Laurence, letting him sigh. He knew he should just let her be, wait until she calmed down and would come out on her own, but it was cold and he was impatient, he just wanted to warm up, not mess with a wet cat, so he grabbed at her with both hands and hissed: “Come out now, Mary, don't be so fucking _stubborn_.”

That had been a grave mistake, because once his hands came even remotely close to Mary, she hissed again and then jumped out of her hiding place, running crisscross through the room. “Oh dear...”, Laurence sighed again and went to chase her, never getting a good hold on her whenever he managed to grab the cat. He only stopped his pursuit when he stepped into something wet and warm. 

He slowly looked down at his feet to see that he had stepped into the remains of Gary's prey.

“Oh, ew!”, Laurence shuddered, already in the process of moving his foot when Gary suddenly had his claws and teeth in him, making Laurence yelp in the unexpected pain. 

“Gary, what the fuck?!”, Laurence cursed, taking a few steps back, watching as pinprick-like drops of blood emerged from his foot. Laurence stopped when he realized that he stood against the bathroom door, his foot hurting, Mary still a panicked mess and Gary bringing his prey into safety. 

“Would you fucking stop with the MESS already?!”, Laurence pretty much screamed and took a step forward, only to slip on something, feel like the floor beneath his feet got revoked from him, feeling a sharp pain in his head and then... nothing. 

When Laurence awoke, it was to the worried face of Florence, which relaxed when she noticed that his eyes had opened: “Ah, Vicar, you are awake!” 

“What happened...?”, Laurene asked, scanning the room. He wasn't in the bathroom anymore, he also wasn't in his office or his private room or the common room, it more looked like the infirmary. The fact that he currently got a blood ministration also cemented this theory. 

“You had an accident in the bathroom and hit your head.”, Florence said. 

Slowly, the memories came back and Laurence thought about the mess that his cats had made and how he had slipped. Wait, did that mean... was he still naked... He quickly glanced under the blankets to see with relief that he had a night gown on. 

Wait... who found him then?! 

“Who brought me here?”, he asked, hoping that it hadn't been Florence who had seen him stark naked. 

“It was Micolash. He has spent his time in a room near the bathroom and heard the commotion. He said, when you stopped cursing after hearing a heavy noise, he got worried and organized a key for the bathroom to check on you.”, Florence explained to Laurence. 

Ah, that was fine then, Micolash had seen Laurence plenty of times naked and... more. 

“He then got me to help you carry into the infirmary.”, Florence continued and Laurence could feel his face heat up in a blush. “Don't worry, I haven't seen anything.”, Florence quickly said and Laurence relaxed. “Micolash made sure that you were adequately dressed before getting me.” 

“I guess I have to thank him... and you.”, Laurence said. “Thank you, Florence, for getting me here. Which injuries did I sustain?” 

“A laceration at your forehead, maybe a concussion. Nothing the Holy Blood can't heal.”, Florence said. “What happened in there, Vicar?” There was a look of concern on Florence' face. 

“The cats happened.”, Laurence sighed and just as he wanted to open his mouth again to tell Florence the details, Amelia barged into the room, hair still a bit wet and a pretzel in her hand.

“Ah, Laurence' awake!”, she said with far too much enthusiasm, which made Laurence hiss and raise a hand to his head, that had hurt. 

“Not so loud, dear, he isn't feeling well.”, Florence said and invited Amelia to sit on her lap, which the little girl was very fond of. 

“What happened?”, Amelia asked once she was properly situated, munching on the pretzel, having her voice reduced to more bearable levels.

“I tell you when you share your snack.”, Laurence grinned at her. Yharnam pretzels were his favourite food and everybody knew it. Amelia pouted at first, but then removed a piece, the one that she herself did like the least and shared it with Laurence. 

Laurence then told the mess the cats had caused in the bathroom in great detail (omitting all the curse words he had said) until it was time for Amelia to leave. Once her and Florence were gone, he closed his eyes and intended to rest until the blood ministration was over. 

A few minutes later, he felt how something warm jumped on his bed and snuggled up against him. He reached out to it and stroked over warm fur, the cat in question, which felt like Mick, pressing its face into his palm. While he wasn't too fond of interacting with his cats right now, Mick had done nothing wrong and so he allowed the black cat to stay. 

He would deal with Mary and Gary after his head had stopped hurting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Florence actually has seen Laurence stark naked, because Micolash wasn't so considerate to dress him or more, was freaked out about all the blood in the bathroom. She just said that to him to calm him down, seeing how embarrassed he was about it. She has seen her fair share of naked man, so Laurence' naked body didn't faze her at all. 
> 
> For anyone who has trouble getting what happened. Laurence slipped on the soap he threw earlier and pretty much smashed his head open on the toilet bowl. Ouch.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In an attempt to cheer Laurence up, Florence and Amelia invite him to a cooking session. Through sheer coincidence, Ludwig is there. The cats are interfering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a good opportunity to remind you, that his fic actually takes place during the canon Bloodborne timeline, so yeah, bad things are happening in Laurence' life and his mental state reflects that. 
> 
> There still will be cat shenanigans like usual, but just a head's up, that there will be a bit of angst also.

Lately Laurence wasn't feeling too well. 

Not that he was admitting it to himself, in his eyes, he was perfectly fine and he made sure to let everyone know that he was fine, regardless how often they asked how he felt. 

But when he laid in his bed late at night, when it even happened, his thoughts wandered and he asked himself “Why?” 

Why had she done it? She had been so young, she did had a bright future in front of her, she had been one of the best Hunters, but she had quit in order to take care of the patients of the Research Hall and now... she was gone. No blood in the world could get her back anymore. Worse even, Gehrman blamed him. Gehrman told him that it was his fault and... Laurence could never forget the way Gehrman had looked at him, how furious and sad he had been. 

The both of them hadn't talked to each other since Laurence had been confronted by Gehrman about Maria's suicide. 

That was why Laurence didn't want to think about it, why he made sure to bury himself in his work and his research and his duties. He didn't want to think about it anymore. 

He tried to work on a thousand different things at once to get the thoughts he didn't want to have out and so he was very surprised when Florence invited him to a cooking session. Amelia would be there too, she had promised the girl to teach her one of her recipes but she would feel better if the official guardian of Amelia would be present. 

Laurence had the feeling that she wouldn't accept a no. Even though he was under no obligation, he felt guilty because of Amelia. Lately he barely had made time for her. A cooking session and some time with Amelia could be the right thing to get his mind off stuff.

So he agreed to Florence' proposal and the three of them met up in one of the smaller cathedral kitchens around 6 PM after Laurence' duties were done and Amelia was done with school and homework. 

“Ah, Vicar, I am delighted to see that you have come.”, Florence smiled at him, a warm smile, but he could see the worry in her face. He knew that she was worried about him. He also knew that he would just dismiss her worries if she asked. 

“Where's Amelia?”, Laurence asked, not seeing the girl around anywhere. 

“She's with Ludwig, the Hunter taking over Gehrman's duties.”, Florence said, stepping into the kitchen. “She wanted to hear some tales about the Hunt and I felt that I can trust him taking care of Amelia, he claimed that he had several little cousins he often took care off.” 

Laurence followed Florence into the kitchen, glad that her back was turned to him, because his face turned red. He knew about Ludwig, he was the Hunter who reported to him instead of Gehrman and... whenever they met, Laurence had a very weird feeling inside of him. A feeling that he couldn't put anywhere, he only knew that he was hoping to see Ludwig again every time and at the same time, feared to see him again. 

“Ludwig promised to take Amelia to the kitchen around 6 PM, so they should be here soon. You are a bit early.”, Florence said, putting two bags on the kitchen counter, rummaging in around them. 

“I... got bored in my room.”, Laurence said. The real reason was that he couldn't stand being in his room alone any longer, being haunted by these intrusive thoughts. Damn, he was about to start to think that he really was responsible for Maria's demise, even though she followed him on her own free will. 

“I know that you are lying, but I also know that you won't tell me the truth.”, Florence said and then gasped, removing a big, bulky cat from one of the bags. “Gary, that fish isn't for you! Go away!” 

“I take him.”, Laurence said and came over to pick up the cat, struggling a bit with holding him. Of course, when Florence had fish in that bag, he would be very interested in getting a piece. 

“Should we keep the cat here? He will only come in the...”, Florence trailed off once she saw Laurence' defensive stance and look. The cats made him feel calm. Holding Gary and making sure that he wasn't stealing a piece from the fish made his mind occupied. He wanted for him to stay. 

Luckily Florence caught up on his clues and simply shrugged. “I trust that you will have an eye on him.”, she said, pulling out a net with potatoes from the second bag. “Even though Amelia isn't here yet, we need to peel potatoes anyway. We can start this while we wait.” 

“Alright.”, Laurence said and let go of Gary. “Maybe put the bag with the fish somewhere else or Gary will try again.” 

“I would like to put it somewhere high up, but both you and me lack the height...”, Florence said, gesturing at herself and at Laurence. Laurence felt a quick stab, he knew he was small, but for some reason, getting made aware of it still made him sensitive. 

“I just climb on a chair.”, he said and walked to one of the tables in the kitchen, the ones where the servants usually would take in their meals. He got a chair and stopped when he saw something fluffy on it. 

“Amy? What are you doing here?”, he said to the curled up fluff ball. Amy blinked at him and meowed, then proceeded to curl up again.

“Maybe they are waiting for the usual staff to come and get fed by them?”, Florence said. “Though she will wait long today, I made sure that this kitchen won't be used by any staff today, they are all elsewhere.” 

“It is also one of the smaller ones.”, Laurence said and put the chair back, taking another one. He searched for a high shelf where he could put the bag and put the chair in front of it. Just as he had climbed the chair and was about to tell Florence to give him the bag, a knock sounded on the door and the newcomer let themselves in not even a second later. 

“Good evening, I am here to deliver Amelia... Vicar, that is dangerous!” 

That voice! Ludwig, the hunter with the Moonlight Great Sword! As Laurence heard him speak, his face flushed and he swirled around, forgetting that he was standing on the chair. Naturally, he lost his balance and gasped as he already saw himself connecting hard and painful with the floor, but two big strong arms caught him. 

“Be more careful, that was dangerous.”, Ludwig said and gently lowered Laurence' on the ground, who didn't had any words, but just swallowed heavy. Amelia peeked out behind Ludwig's legs and screeched: “Ah, Laurence, you always forbid me to climb on chairs!” 

“Now now.”, Florence said and came over, taking Amelia by the hand. “His grace simply wanted to get the fish out of the cat's reach, that is why he was on the chair. I am afraid that both him and me are a bit too small to reach the high shelf without the help of a chair.”

“Hmmm...”, Amelia said. “It's still not FAIR!” 

“Amelia, if you fall down, you can get hurt a lot more than an adult.”, Laurence finally found his words again. “And even with the holy blood, it is easier to treat adults with it. I am just concerned about your safety, that is all.” 

“Where is the fish you want to keep safe?”, Ludwig asked. “I am tall enough to reach the shelf.” 

“It's right... GARY!”, Florence rushed over to pull the cat out of the bag, which let out an annoyed meow and clawed at her. “Ah, we are in luck, he hasn't stolen a piece.” 

Florence firmly held the cat in a still gentle embrace while looking at Laurence, who still was busy arguing with Amelia about safety. 

“Ludwig, would you be so kind?”, she asked and handed him the bag. 

“Of course.”, Ludwig said and stepped to the high shelf, easily reaching it without even needing to get on his toes. 

“Thank you, Ludwig.”, Florence said, letting Gary go. He made a few steps and then looked at her kind of offended, sitting down and washing his face. 

“And once you are around my age and the Vicar, you can climb on as much chairs as you want.”, Laurence said. 

“But that takes AGES. You are so old!”, Amelia complained, making Laurence gasp in fake annoyance. 

“I am only 29!”, he said and ruffled Amelia's hair. 

“Yes. You are old. Like I said!”, Amelia chirped and then both of them chuckled. 

“What are you three planning on doing here?”, Ludwig asked, still standing around, looking a bit awkward now that his part appeared to be done. 

“We wanted to cook together.”, Florence said. “Amelia wants to learn to cook and I wanted to show her an old family recipe. But she is only seven, so I asked his grace to come and watch over her.” 

Laurence knew that this wasn't the reason why Florence had invited him. He knew that she wanted his mind to get off stuff, that was why he had accepted in the first place. With Amelia in tow, he stepped nearer to Florence and just said: “That is correct.” 

“Oh, you are planning to cook? Do you mind if I stay and help? I am not a bad cook myself, at least I think so. Most people trying my cooking certainly said they liked it.” 

“Um... I don't know...”, Florence looked at Laurence, her eyes showing uncertainty behind her round glasses. “What do you say, Vicar?” 

“Alright.”, Laurence said, surprising himself. 

“Oh, yay!”, Amelia cheered, both hands in the air. “I like Ludwig!” 

“What a compliment to be liked by such a beautiful young lady.”, Ludwig smiled, stepping to Florence. “So, can you share the recipe with me?” 

“I will share it with all of you.”, Florence said. “You should take notes.” 

Amelia pressed a notebook and a pen in Laurence' hands, indicating that she wanted him to take notes. Well, Amelia was still young, she couldn't write that quickly now. 

Laurence sat himself on one of the tables and listened intently when Florence told the recipe, making sure to elaborate on each and every step and being even more detailed as Master Willem talking about Byrgenwerth history. 

“Have you gotten everything?”, Florence smiled. Ludwig nodded and Laurence looked at his scribbled notes and murmured: “I hope so...” 

“Alright, then let us start! First we need to peel the potatoes! Amelia, dear, come here, I show you how to peel them most effective.” 

Florence divided the potatoes fairly and soon him and Ludwig were staring down at a bowl of them, with two knives near. 

“So, uh, do you know how to peel potatoes?”, Ludwig asked. 

“Tsk.”, Laurence said. “I used to cook myself, of course I can peel potatoes.” What kind of person did Ludwig think he was? One that wasn't doing any housework at all and never had cooked a meal in his life?

“I apologize, it's just...”, Ludwig said, but didn't finish the sentence. 

_It's just that you don't expect the Vicar to stand in a kitchen and cook._ Laurence finished the sentence in his thoughts. Nobody would expect it from him. In a sense, how could he blame them? Since he had started the church and since they managed to hire servants for cooking, he really hadn't cooked a meal anymore. 

For some reason, that everyone around him expected him to have no clue how to cook made his mood sour and he started to peel the potatoes a lot more aggressive than he had planned to do. 

“Vicar, forgive me to interrupt, but...” 

“What?! Don't interrupt me.”, Laurence snapped, gaze on Ludwig and then hissed when the knife didn't hit the potato but his finger instead. 

“Ah, fuck.”, he said and sucked on the finger, the coppery taste of his blood filling his mouth. Lately that taste was awfully sweet and almost sickening. 

“I wanted to advise you to slow down so that you don't cut yourself.”, Ludwig said, picking up a new potato and carefully, but masterfully peeling it. “Do you want me to get you a bandage?” 

“For what? I have a blood vial ready.”, Laurence said after taking the finger out of his mouth. He produced the blood vial out of his pocket and jammed the needle into the back of his hand, the cut on his hand vanishing in an instant. 

“All good.”, he said and wiped the blood away with a handkerchief while Ludwig stared at him silently. It almost felt... like he judged him. 

“What?!”, Laurence snapped, but the rest of his rant got stuck in his throat when he saw a familiar black cat on the table, sniffing on the peeled potatoes. 

“Oh, who are you?”, Ludwig said. “I am afraid I can't give you a treat, that potatoes are still uncooked and won't taste good.” 

“Mick, no.”, Laurence said and raised his hand to put the palm against Mick's forehead, the cat setting back his ears as Laurence tried to gently push him off, but still standing firm on the table. 

“That is your pet, your grace?”, Ludwig asked. 

“One of them, yes.”, Laurence said. “We better get rid of him, he eats anything. He won't refrain from steeling a raw potato.” 

“What a strange little creature.”, Ludwig chuckled. 

“Mick? He's just a little bastard.”, Laurence picked the cat up and ruffled his fur, all while ignoring how Ludwig gasped. “You just want to steel some food, right, little bastard boy?”, Laurence joked with Mick, completely forgetting about his earlier sour mood. 

“Vicar... maybe you shouldn't, uh, talk like that when a child is present...”, Ludwig subtlety gestured to Amelia, who wasn't paying attention to Laurence at all, too caught up in trying to peel a potato the perfect way (and failing). 

“What, Amelia? Doesn't appear like she listens in right now.”, Laurence smiled at Mick and ruffled his fur one last time before letting him go. “You don't steal any potatoes, right, bastard boy?” 

Mick replied with a meow and then immediately put his attention to the potatoes again. With a sigh, Laurence was about to shove him from the table when his gaze went up and he saw...

“Gary, you fucking savage!”, he screamed, now definitely loud enough to be heard, so that Florence covered Amelia's ears and Ludwig let out another gasp, all while Laurence hurried to the high shelf where they had deposited the fish and tried to reach Gary, who was about to climb up the shelf, only managing to grab his tail. 

“Come down here, you fucking idiot.”, Laurence said, standing on his toes, trying to get Gary down, but the cat only complained loudly about having his tail being held. Laurence was just too small and Gary almost was on the shelf. 

Laurence got saved, but almost fell, when Ludwig appeared next to him and took the cat, putting him on the floor. 

“Th-thank you.”, Laurence said, suddenly blushing, not knowing why. 

Ludwig turned around, put both hands in his hips and his brown eyes stared down at Laurence with a certain kind of anger. Laurence suddenly felt very very small under that look. It didn't get better when he searched for Florence and was met with a very similar look. 

“You, sir, will have to pay in the swear jar.”, Ludwig announced and then counted on his fingers. “Eight times. You swore eight times in about ten minutes! I wanted to cut you some slack because the first time was out of surprise, but the other ones weren't. And the last few ones were loud enough for Amelia to hear them!” 

Laurence now not only felt small, he also deflated physically. That was... that was one of the first times someone actually dared to scold him, outside of Gehrman and Maria. Even though as the Vicar he could pretty much do what he wants, the feeling of getting put in his place was... actually a welcome one. 

While Florence often was scolding him in a motherly way, she never dared to go as far as Ludwig had right now. 

Ludwig suddenly seemed to notice too, just who he had just given an earful, because his mouth was slightly agape and he seemed to be at a loss for words, when Laurence said: “How much do I owe you?” 

“Oh, uh, one cent for every swear...”, Ludwig said. Laurence got his wallet from his pocket and counted out eight cents, letting them fall into Ludwig's palms. 

“There, let's continue with the work.”, Laurence said and went back to the table, only to gasp and chase after Mick who had a potato in his mouth. “Mick, I fucking swear to the Great Ones!”

“Nine cents.”, Ludwig murmured and then went to Florence, who still had Amelia's ears covered, the little girl looking less than thrilled about it. 

“Is that normal?”, he asked, pointing at Laurence who just had managed to capture Mick and gave both him and Gary a scolding before carrying both of them under his arms and finally put them out of the kitchen. 

“Yes, his grace sadly is a potty mouth.”, Florence sighed. “I tell him again and again not to swear in front of Amelia, but it seems to be so ingrained in the way he talks, that he simply forgets. Though, I am impressed and surprised that you got him to pay into your swear jar.” 

“I am surprised by it too.”, Ludwig commented. Florence finally uncovered Amelia's ears, lifting a finger when the little girl opened her mouth and she shut it immediately again. She knew she would get in trouble if she repeated Laurence' words. 

Laurence had sat himself back at the table and continued to peel potatoes, in a much more calm and collected manner than before, also he seemed to be in a better mood. Ludwig went back to join him. “You owe me a cent still, Vicar.”, he said. 

“I'll pay once we are done with the cooking.”, Laurence said, low-key hoping that Ludwig would forget about it. 

Soon the potatoes were all peeled and Florence put them in a pot filled with water, that now waited to cook on the stove. 

“While we wait for them, we can prepare the fish. Ludwig, would you be so kind?”, Florence said. 

“Of course.”, Ludwig went to get the bag from the high shelf and put it on the counter in front of Florence. 

“What can I do?!”, Amelia excitedly asked.

“Not much, I am afraid, dear. I need to show you how it is done, so please observe closely. And once I have shown it, each of you get your own fish to prepare.” 

Florence cast a glance to her audience and received a nod from both Laurence and Ludwig and a pout from Amelia. 

“But I can barely see.”, she announced. 

“Do you want to sit on my shoulders?”, Ludwig asked, kneeling in front of her, at which Amelia's eyes glowed in glee and once she sat safely on Ludwig's shoulder, Laurence drew a sharp breath about how cute it looked. 

“Alright, we need to start by removing all the innards.”, Florence said and proceeded to cut a hole into the fish's stomach, swiftly and masterfully removing all the innards while explaining each step. 

“Alright, now that this is done, each of you gets a fish and please remove the innards just like I showed right now.”, Florence said and put a similar fish in front at each of them, staying with Amelia to help her out. 

“Removing the innards? Easy.”, Laurence said. He had made so many autopsies that he could remove innards in his sleep, even when it was a fish. Still had a heart, stomach, colon and almost everything a human had. It didn't took him long to remove the innards. Next to him, Ludwig also didn't struggle with that step, finishing shortly after him. Laurence put his gaze to Amelia and Florence, who struggled a bit. 

“That's so gross.”, she complained. “Do I have to touch it?” 

“Amelia, you are the daughter of the Healing Church.”, Laurence gasped, standing up and walking over to her. “I had blood on my fingers for over ten years daily now. If you can't handle a dead fish, how do you want to be able to handle being the head of blood healing?”

Even though Florence was looking at him with a warning stare and Amelia kind of looked like she was about to cry, Laurence didn't slow down. “Let's do it together.”, he said and sat down next to her. Amelia nodded and with his help, she managed to get rid of the innards, even though her face still showed her disgust with it. 

“Alright, the next step.”, Florence said and then gasped as she saw a new culprit on the counter. Amy, who still had been in the kitchen and who Laurence had completely forgotten about it. 

“Amy, no!”, Florence rushed to her fish and picked the cat up, who already had stolen a piece. “Vicar, next time you should make sure to put the cats out of the kitchen beforehand.”

“Or next time we shouldn't cook fish.”, Laurence said, coming nearer and presenting his hands to Amy, who greedily licked them. “They can't resist that smell. I got most of the cats tamed by feeding them fish treats.” 

“How many cats do you even have, your grace?”, Ludwig asked. 

“Six.”, Amelia answered for Laurence. “Mick, Mary, Gary, Will, Julie and Amy. He named Amy after me!” 

“That is... adorable.”, Ludwig said and his gaze became admirable as he put it on Laurence, with the Vicar blushing as he noticed. 

“You don't have one named after me...”, Florence said, looking a bit sad. 

“Just because none of the cats have reminded me of you, that's all.”, Amy was done with licking Laurence' fingers and he dried them in the cat's fur before picking her up. “I better put Amy out before we continue.” 

“It would be the best, yes.”, Florence said. 

“Bye, Amy.”, Amelia waved as Laurence went to the door. 

The moment he opened it, Gary, Mick and Mary were slipping into the kitchen, before Laurence had the chance to do or say anything. 

“Have they waited in front of the door all the time?!”, he just said, leaving his mouth a bit open. He knew that cats could be patient, but that was ridiculous. They even had risen in numbers! 

Amy used his momentarily confusion to wiggle out of his arms also, which brought Laurence back from his stupor. 

“Everyone, catch the cats!”, he yelled and dove after Amy. Florence went for Mick, who was the closest to her, but hid under a table and behind a few chairs. Amelia tried her best, but the cats were too fast for her. 

It was Ludwig who managed to catch Mary and Gary, while Laurence gave Amy to Florence and lured out Mick himself. 

As they carried the cats to the door, Laurence said: “Florence, can we use the innards to make a meal for the cats?”

“We sure can.”, Florence said, smiling. 

“Aren't you using the innards for the sauce?”, Ludwig said, on which Amelia commented: “What? Gross!!” 

“A lot of sauces are based on innards, dear, but to answer your question, Ludwig, I am making a sauce based on butter. I think it is called a Béchamel sauce.” 

“Ah, brought from the french population of Yharnam.”, Laurence commented. He even knew how to speak a little French, but not much. 

“Yes, exactly.”, Florence beamed. “My ancestors must have had French roots, it even is seen in my name still, even though we pronounce it different today.”

“How interesting.”, Ludwig said. “I wonder which ethnicity my ancestors had?” 

“Probably German.”, Laurence said, opening the door, waiting for all of them to step out and close the door behind them. “Ludwig is a german name. When I remember correctly, it means 'famous warrior'.”

“Well, I am a hunter, though I don't think I am famous, with the hunt being held in secret and all... What about you, Vicar?”

Ludwig put both of the cats he carried down and Laurence and Florence joined him. “English/German.”, Laurence said. “Though today I see myself as a Yharnamite. We have become something new when our ancestors build this town.” 

“And what does your name mean?”, Amelia asked. “And do you know what mine means?”

“Shining One.”, Laurence said as he turned around and took the door handle in hand. “I must say, the most fitting name my parents chose for me. And for you, your name can be correlated to being industrious or striving.” 

“Indus...”, Amelia scrunched her face, of course, that world was too difficult for her.

“It means that you are a hard worker.”, Florence said. “Can we go back into the kitchen, Vicar?”

“Hm, wait a moment...”, Laurence said and then produced a toy out of his coat. A rustling mouse plushy. He squeezed it a bit and once all four cats had their attention on it, he threw it and hurried in the kitchen. “Go go go!”, he yelled and shut the door behind them, once everyone had safely made it back in and no cats had followed them. 

“It certainly doesn't get boring here.”, Ludwig chuckled as he walked back to their work spaces.

“No, it doesn't.”, Florence agreed. 

“I have so much fun each day!”, Amelia added. 

Three pairs of eyes locked at Laurence when he stayed silent. 

“Oh, um, hm...”, Laurence said. “It certainly doesn't get boring here, no...” 

For a brief moment, he had forgotten about his worries from earlier. For a few minutes, he had felt at peace. For a few minutes, he had felt... happy. 

“Shall we continue the meal?”, he asked. 

The work went much more smoothly without being interrupted by the cats. Florence taught all of them how to prepare the fish, how to put it into a herb crust and taught them how to cook the Béchamel sauce, all while the potatoes boiled quietly in the background. 

Soon the kitchen was filled with a mouth watering smell while Florence and Ludwig worked on making a meal for the cats from the innards, while Laurence and Amelia watched over the fish that fried in the pan. 

“And now we have to flip it, are you ready?”, Laurence said, spatula in hand. 

“Yes.”, Amelia nodded. Laurence handed the spatula to her and said: “I'll help.” 

Amelia carefully put the spatula under the fish and Laurence gently put his hand around the handle, ready to help Amelia out. Soon, the both of them had flipped every fish and after a few more minutes of waiting, the meal was ready. Ludwig put the meal for the cats in four bowls while Florence prepared their dishes and Amelia and Laurence set the table. 

_I almost feel as if they are my family._, Laurence thought to himself as he worked. _Amelia is like my daughter, Florence feels like a mom and Ludwig... Ludwig is my..._

Laurence didn't finish the thought, instead blushing at a furious rate. What had he just thought about? He shook his head and focused on Amelia instead who was busy putting the cutlery down. 

“The table is set, the meal is ready and the cats are getting their own meal. Let us sit down after we let them in.”, Florence clapped in her hands as she said that. Amelia climbed on a chair and waited as Laurence went to the door and let the cats in. 

The four of them stormed in immediately and once they saw the bowls, they approached them, sniffing them first and then digging in. 

“It seems like they like it.”, Ludwig said, sitting himself down on the table. Florence sat down next to him and Laurence sat down next to Amelia, opposite of Ludwig, feeling like he blushed again. For some reason, he couldn't look Ludwig in the eyes. 

“Let us say the prayers.”, Ludwig said and folded his hands. “Or should I leave this honour to our Vicar?”

Laurence shook his head. He didn't feel like praying right now.

"Seek the old blood.  
Let us pray... to partake in communion.  
Let us partake in communion... and feast upon the old blood.  
Our thirst for blood satiates us, soothes our fears.  
Seek the old blood... but beware the frailty of men.  
Their wills are week, minds young.  
The foul beasts will dangle nectar and lure the meek into the depths.  
Remain wary of the frailty of men.  
Their wills are week, minds young.  
Were it not for fear, death would go unlamented.  
May the good blood guide our way.”

How often had Laurence said this exact words and heard this words himself? A prayer that he himself had invented, well, with a bit of help by Florence.

“May the good blood guide our way.”, he murmured alongside Florence and Amelia. 

“Then let us enjoy our meal.”, Ludwig smiled at all of them. None of them needed a second invitation to dig in. 

The meal was good, amazing even. Florence truly knew how to cook and that he himself had been a part of it kind of made Laurence a bit proud and even that Amelia could help. It tasted so good, it was a taste that Laurence couldn't really put down until a word crossed his mind. Home. It tasted like home. 

“Goodness, Vicar, is everything alright?!”, Florence looked at him and when Laurence looked up, he noticed the wetness on his face. When had he started crying?

He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and smiled: “I am fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcanon Yharnam to be a town that was founded by outsiders from different countries, so that they have quite some diversity, with the biggest ethnicity having english and german ancestors. Yharnam also is kind of a city state, so they are a city, but see themselves as their own country, that is why Laurence calls himself a Yharnamite. 
> 
> I was searching up the origin of the name Ludwig for that fic and I was beaming when I saw what it meant and it got only better when I looked up Laurence and Amelia, these names are so FITTING, I love it. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave me a comment with your favourite part down below.


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